


Would It Kill Uchiha To Be Nice?

by BeetlesMcGee



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternative Dai-nana-han | Team 7 (Naruto), BAMF Hyuuga Hinata, BAMF Uzumaki Naruto, Being a Jinchuuriki is more like a chronic ailment, But only my opinion of one, Dramedy, F/F, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, Fluff and Angst, Hatake Kakashi is a Bad Teacher, Hinata has repressed resentment, Inner Sasuke, Kyuubi Chakra Is More Dangerous, M/M, Multi, Sasuke Trying To Be Nice, Self-Indulgent, Team 7 Hyuuga Hinata, Team 8 Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke Has Issues, chapter 7 marks particularly large deviation from canon, eventual polyamory, no established romance until post timeskip, not right away though
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:55:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 84,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25245736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeetlesMcGee/pseuds/BeetlesMcGee
Summary: Life’s complicated when you’re just trying to push people away and focus on your training… and yet, for all your suffering, you can’t shake the part of you that’s decided to remain an infuriatingly soft, over-sensitive, polite little goody-two-shoes for reasons beyond your comprehension.And when that side of you causes you to tell Hinata to be a little braver towards Naruto?It changes a lot more than you were expecting, honestly.In which Inner Sakura has an opposite counterpart in Inner Sasuke.  And Sasuke hates every second of it.Until he eventually doesn’t.
Relationships: Hyuuga Hinata/Uchiha Sasuke, Hyuuga Hinata/Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto, Hyuuga Hinata/Uzumaki Naruto, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added, Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 43
Kudos: 158





	1. Try To Be Brave

**Author's Note:**

> As an important note, not every change to canon hinges on Inner Sasuke existing, although the goal is that they usually at least have some relation to it. This fic will also include a decent amount of the anime’s filler, although often modified as I see fit. (bc it has potential and interesting concepts but a Lot of it is boring, tedious, and kinda dumb)
> 
> I claim this is a fix-it, but take that with a grain of salt, because every time I use that term I automatically feel like I'm being kind of full of myself.
> 
> And I say this is Sasuke/Naruto/Hinata, but... There's nothing but crushes/pining going on for this fic's entire analogue to Part 1. Eventually, there'll be significantly more than that going on, and the polycule itself may expand. But for now, I don't feel like cluttering the tags with things that aren't relevant yet.
> 
> Not all chapters are quite as dark as Chapter 1's going to be, although Chapter 1 is only about as dark as the canonical Episode 1. 
> 
> This fic is usually meant to be lighter-hearted, but it may still get dark every now and then. After all, most of the supporting history of the world is the same.
> 
> Full disclosure, I like Hinata more than Sakura. This isn’t meant to be a Sakura-bashing fic, because I don't *dislike* her and it's basically Kishimoto's fault for how he wrote her. So, I will try to re-interpret and improve her to an extent over time, but yeah. Hinata’s gonna be Team 7 and Sakura’s gonna be Team 8.
> 
> I also don’t like Jiraiya. At all. I do still need him for certain things, and trying to shoehorn in some total replacement OC would feel really petty and tacky of me, but expect his roles to be diminished. I will at least try to fix him up a little, at some point, but... I just don't want to deal with him more than I have to.
> 
> And as a disclaimer, Inner Sasuke is not meant to represent any kind of serious mental illness or dissociative identity disorder, it’s still essentially just a humorously exaggerated case of “private thoughts and feelings you don’t want to outwardly show”.
> 
> There's quite a bit of creative liberty taken here, it is an AU after all, so if anything seems odd I'm... *probably* doing it on purpose. Probably.
> 
> Notably, how I intend for this to work is that Sasuke and Hinata tend to alternate as viewpoint characters the most often by far. Naruto is still important himself, of course, but things are much more frequently seen and dealt with through their eyes. (Not 1st person, just 3rd person with their thoughts and stuff)

Everything began simply enough. Just a bit before the class graduation test, Sasuke’s observations of some of his classmates came to a head.  
  
For one, Naruto was most likely on track to fail the graduation test again…  
  
Really, for the most part, Sasuke didn’t see any logical reason he should bother caring about that.  
  
Naruto was a slow-witted, forgetful, inattentive, class-skipping slacker. He didn’t deserve to pass. That much should’ve been obvious…  
  
But…  
  
 _But…_ _  
__  
__“Don’t think like that!”_ came a small voice in his head. His own, but softer and more timid, shying away from all his nastier thoughts as if they were diseased. _“Naruto tries, in his own way!”_ _  
_  
Tch. As if. Naruto was hopeless, and weak, and he’d just drag everyone down, and-  
  
 _“After what happened… Didn’t you think you were weak and hopeless too, at one point?”_ the voice countered.  
  
Sasuke’s train of negative thought towards Naruto came to a screeching halt. That… might’ve been true, but…  
  
 _“I think you’re just saying that mean stuff as an excuse to not try being friends with him…”_ _  
_  
T-that couldn’t be it! Besides, he didn’t have _time_ for friends! He needed to get stronger!  
  
 _“That’s just what_ **_he_ ** _would want you to say….”_ the voice countered. Sasuke tensed. He knew full well who _‘he’_ was, and it wasn’t Naruto. And unfortunately… that part of him was absolutely right.  
  
But he couldn’t just… befriend Naruto! It was clearly beneath him!  
  
 _“In other words, you’re just insecure, and you just feel like you’d be embarrassed to be seen with him…”_ the voice countered. _“When really, deep down, you want to see someone like him live up to his real potential, don’t you?”_ the voice continued, all too knowingly. _“Deep down… you want to see him beat the odds. You’ve seen real despair, and you don’t want anyone else to have to feel that way.”_ Sasuke grimaced. Once again, he easily saw through his own bullshit.  
  
Sasuke cursed his own selfishness, his own need to protect his ego. He always pushed everyone away, pretended not to care about his image… only to suddenly care desperately when it came to doing what would be right, but might get him criticized.  
  
Things were hard enough with everyone thinking he was just their cool, level-headed genius golden boy…  
  
He didn’t need them starting to actually be mean…  
  
Besides, some of the adults… sometimes… already looked at him with the most _bizarre_ mix of pity and disdain on their faces… and he always hated every second of it. The only thing he really understood about that was ironically that it was better to ignore it than actually try to understand it, because he couldn’t get any closer to doing so no matter how much he obsessed over it.   
  
Still… if he didn’t have the guts to be friends with Naruto… maybe he could try to nudge someone else in that direction? Most of them thought he was “cool”, even if he noted they didn’t really know a damn thing about him other than his whole “perfect stoic cool kid” act… But that was more his fault than theirs, he was fully willing to admit that.

Sasuke quickly scanned the room, wondering who would be most receptive to his little idea…  
  
And as his eyes came upon the shyest girl in class, the one who would always do anything to cover herself up and make herself small, the one who barely spoke above a whisper…  
  
He had it.  
  
It was plain to see that she had some kind of fascination with Naruto. She always stared intently at him, and never even once joined in on any mockery of him.   
  
And maybe, perhaps, just once or twice, when Sasuke had watched Naruto from afar, wishing he had the courage to finally try and connect with him…  
  
Sasuke would notice her watching Naruto, just as he was.   
  
He wondered if she ever noticed him in turn.  
  
Still, even though her fascination with Naruto made her clearly the best candidate in that regard… she was probably the absolute worst in terms of willingness to engage for any _other_ reason.  
  
Hinata Hyuuga. He simply knew it from rolecall, as she’d never been even close to brave enough to introduce herself to him directly. She was, without a doubt, the most cowardly, withdrawn girl Sasuke had ever seen…  
  
 _“So convince her to be a little braver, maybe?”_ came the voice again.  
  
Sasuke just huffed. He… supposed that might help?  
  
If all went well, Hinata would actually get a friend, and so would Naruto… and Sasuke wouldn’t have to get involved any further. Hinata seemed at least decently smart, so maybe she could help Naruto out a bit for next time.  
  
It was after class that Sasuke put his plan into action. They were all gathered up outside of the Academy in their new headbands, all except Naruto. It was supposed to be simple. It was supposed to be _so, so_ simple.  
  
 _“Hey, Hinata! I bet Naruto would really appreciate it if you tried a little harder to talk to him! Take some deep breaths to gather your courage! Try asking how his day’s been! Or maybe ask if you can walk home with him! Something like that! You won’t know until you try!”_ _  
_  
It was the kind of thing he meant to say, without a doubt. Supportive, encouraging, actual suggestions and advice.  
  
What actually came out was something… _different._ _  
__  
_“Quit being shy. Talk to Naruto already.” He ended up saying to Hinata, his voice rough and impatient. Stern, blunt, sort of rude, more of a command than a suggestion.  
  
Sasuke could _see_ that, and although he scrambled to try and soften it up a little, eyes widening at how he could’ve _possibly_ botched an interaction that badly… Hinata was already nervously backing away and scurrying off, her only response being a hurried “I-I’ll try my best!!!”, in a tone that was clearly terrified and yet still somehow only managed to reach a loud whisper.  
  
Sasuke clenched his fists, cursing to himself.  
  
 _“W-well, at least you tried?”_ the soft voice in his head fretfully offered. _“I’m sure she knows you don’t mean any real harm, r-right?”_ _  
_  
Yeah. Sasuke was no bully. He minded his own business. Surely, even if he’d unintentionally been a bit… _offputting,_ Hinata wouldn’t take it too hard.  
  
 _Right???_ _  
__  
__“Who am I kidding…”_ the voice somberly continued. _“No matter what I do… I can’t help but keep making everyone think that’s just the way I am…”_ _  
__  
_Meanwhile, Hinata was gripped with sheer white-knuckled terror.  
  
Dear oh dear, she was truly up a creek without a paddle, wasn’t she?  
  
 _Sasuke Uchiha_ had given her an order, face to face! And he’d sounded _super_ scary! Oh no, no, no, no! That just wouldn’t do! Sasuke was the class genius! The strongest! If she didn’t listen, he could pound her into paste! Or worse, all the other girls liked him, so they’d probably bully her relentlessly for not doing what he said!  
  
Worst of all, maybe they’d start blackmailing her! Maybe Sasuke even already noticed her crush on Naruto, and he was going to tell everyone if she didn’t listen to him! Maybe even tell Naruto!  
  
Or... or-or-or maybe he’d start getting people to spy on her, and then they could tell everyone that she still couldn’t sleep without stuffed animals, like an embarrassing little sissy baby!  
  
They’d know she still used the Byakugan to check for monsters under the bed and in the closet!  
  
They’d know she was even still afraid of babyish superstitions!  
  
They’d know that her father hated her, that she was useless, pathetic trash, and that she was so worthless that even her little sister was better than her in every way… So that was why all the other kids had their parents, while she was just standing around by herself in that crowd, hanging just near one of the edges to not be too noticeable but not have to brave the crowded center.  
  
Whatever kind of protection or respect the Hyuuga name granted her… the moment they all truly realized how pathetic she was, it’d crumble in an instant.

For those reasons, Hinata barely felt it strange that Sasuke of all people would tell her to speak to Naruto, and didn’t puzzle much over what exactly his motivations were. Her own poor opinions of herself readily filled the gap. She easily assumed that he’d be hiding nearby, just wanting to watch her embarrass herself as she inevitably failed to properly speak to Naruto, constantly stuttering over her words and blushing fiercely.   
  
Still, she didn’t see what other choice she had. Having him mock her for doing something embarrassing was surely better than what he’d do if she disobeyed. She didn’t even bother to question why he’d ever even _want_ to mock her in the first place. To her, that was plainly obvious. She was clearly so pathetic that she deserved bullies, she deserved being laughed at, and she deserved to be tormented and forced into mortifying situations.

So, gathering up all of her courage, Hinata…  
  
 _Tried_ to speak to Naruto.  
  
What really ended up happening was that she sort of just ended up awkwardly following him around for a while from a distance. For some reason, Mizuki-sensei was with him too, but neither of them seemed to notice her. She felt more than a bit creepy and guilty about it, but didn’t really know how to stop. She couldn’t just quit and go home, or she’d never get around to it. Then, she’d have to face Sasuke’s consequences… Which she’d fully convinced herself not only existed, but would be unimaginably frightening. 

So, following Naruto it was… at least until he had some kind of odd conversation with Mizuki-sensei, one that she hadn’t been tailing closely enough to hear properly… but regardless, the result was that after he briefly put on a burst of speed, towards some unknown destination, he stopped in an empty street, seeming a bit stumped for a while.  
  
“Man… but how am I going to get the Scroll of Sealing? Something that important would have to have a bunch of security… Wait! What if I use my Sexy Jutsu on the guards?! I bet that’d work!” she overheard Naruto saying… As odd as his rambling was, she supposed it was as good a time as any to engage him in conversation.  
  
“N-Naruto… kun?” Hinata tried, stepping out from behind a building. Apparently, he didn’t actually hear her, not even bothering to turn around as he blathered on to himself about using the Sexy Jutsu and then throwing a smoke bomb while the guards were distracted

She stepped closer and then tried again… only to accidentally startle him in the process.  
  
“O-oh, Hinata! Hey! Didn’t see you there! It’s not like I got scared just now, or anything like that, haha! So, uh… what did you want?” Naruto asked, forcing himself to act natural.  
  
“W-well, I um, I saw that you didn’t pass t-the, the test, Naruto-kun, a-and I, I felt kind of bad for you, so… I-I wanted to see if you’re d-doing alright?” Hinata asked. “N-not that I’m pitying you, of course! I-I was… I was just a little worried, that’s all…”  
  
“Oh, you were?” Naruto asked, wide-eyed and curious for a moment before putting on his best smug grin. “Well, you’ve got nothing to worry about anymore, Hinata! ‘Cause I’ve got a super special test from Mizuki-sensei, and as soon as I do it, I’ll be a ninja for sure! And from then on, it’s practically a straight shot to becoming Hokage, dattebayo!”  
  
As much as Hinata felt like that was a gross oversimplification, his pure spirit and self-assuredness made something in her chest feel so warm that she didn’t have the heart to point that out. “I… um, about that, Naruto-kun… I-I wanna… I wanna help you, if that’s alright with you…” Hinata responded, surprising even herself. Even though she looked away and stuttered the whole time she was saying it, she’d still said it.  
  
“Huh? But why, Hinata?” Naruto asked.  
  
Hinata paused for a moment, not daring to outright say “to impress you”, but she _did_ want to at least say something to improve her standing with him.  
  
“W-well… I’ve always felt like… a-as hard as you t-try, y-you… you don’t deserve to be behind everyone else, N-Naruto-kun…” Hinata somehow managed to admit, causing Naruto to go wide-eyed, staring straight into her eyes in a way that made her go more red than ever, constantly fidgeting with her hands.  
  
“R-really? W-well, I guess I _am_ pretty great, huh? Ahaha…” Naruto replied, looking away pointedly. “But there’s gotta be something in this for you too, right? Come on, I know there is!” Naruto prodded, looking at her with a conspiratorial grin. “After all, this is a dangerous, top-secret test to get the Scroll of Sealing, and learn an awesome jutsu from it!”

Strangely enough, another part of her bitterly chimed in with another thought: When had Father _ever_ been pleased with her, anyway? She’d probably reached rock bottom with him anyway, hadn’t she? And Mother… as kind as Mother could be, she also never did much of anything to oppose Father.  
  
A sudden surge of contempt and rebellion was egging Hinata on before she could stop herself. There was a sudden selfishness, a spark of desire beyond just Naruto’s praise…  
  
If there was something in that scroll… Something that could… get her acknowledged… make her stronger…  
  
“W-well… I-I do… wish I were... stronger…” Hinata said quietly.   
  
“Ha, I knew it had to be something! Who could resist the awesome kinds of jutsu there must be in that scroll? Man, Mizuki-sensei is the best, telling me all about it like he did!” Naruto said.  
  
Hinata just shyly nodded, although she couldn’t help but feel a bit strange about the whole situation. Could there really be a test like that? Wasn’t such an important scroll too much for kids like them?  
  
Maybe that was just part of the special test. Mizuki-sensei was just being nice and letting Naruto feel capable and important, but when they got there, the scroll wouldn’t be real. Hinata could buy something like that.  
  
So, under that logic, she didn’t bother to voice her suspicions. She wanted Naruto to feel capable and important too, after all.

“So? What are you just standing there thinking about? Come on, Hinata! There’s a scroll waiting with our names on it!” Naruto continued, knocking her out of her thoughts.  
  
“R-right!” Hinata agreed.

With that, the two were off.  
  
Hinata knew she was really expected at home already, but… if Father largely wanted nothing to do with her anyway, well..

What was one night doing something a bit different for once?  
  
At first, they stopped by Naruto’s house to gather supplies.  
  
Hinata was incredibly grateful and more than a little nervous when Naruto invited her in without question, but silently horrified at the apartment’s cramped size, run-down conditions, and general messiness, which only got worse as Naruto searched for various odds and ends they might need.  
  
Shockingly, Naruto even got out some packages of instant ramen and offered to make Hinata some.  
  
Hinata didn’t hesitate in accepting the offer.  
  
“T-thank you, Naruto-kun!” Hinata said.  
  
“No problem! Still, I didn’t know rich people like something as cheap as instant ramen…” Naruto said.   
  
“O-oh, uh, technically I’m not supposed to eat it… but I had it over an old friend’s house a few times, and it was actually really good…” Hinata replied.  
  
“Oh? Who’s your friend?” Naruto asked.  
  
Hinata paused for a minute, as Naruto set about boiling water, and for a minute Naruto was scared he’d said the wrong thing, but then she continued. “Well, that was a while ago… we’re not friends anymore...”  
  
“Huh? Why?” Naruto asked, frowning. “I bet it was because they were a total jerk, huh?”  
  
“W-well, yes, to an extent, although I don’t like being that harsh about it. First they were always bossing me around and talking about me behind my back… but that ended up not really mattering, because my father forbade me from being around them anymore regardless,” Hinata explained. “Said I needed to apply myself more…”  
  
“Oh… well, who needs ‘em anyway? Once we get at that scroll, people’ll be sorry they didn’t treat you better!” Naruto reassured her, with such utter certainty and conviction that Hinata couldn’t help but feel a bit better.  
  
“T-thank you, Naruto-kun…” Hinata said quietly.  
  
They ‘conversed’ a bit longer after that, but it was mostly Naruto rambling on and Hinata giving short responses to show she was listening, which Naruto didn’t seem to mind in the least.  
  
After a short while, the ramen was done. Naruto had apparently punched it up a bit with seasonings and some of the more affordable toppings he could manage, and Hinata’s mouth was honestly watering, but she was a bit nervous at how much Naruto had given her. The bowls he was using were larger than she’d anticipated, but she tried her best not to show her apprehension.  
  
Naruto apparently caught it anyway. “What’s wrong? Is it too much? I won’t be sad if you don’t eat it all,” Naruto said.  
  
“N-no, it’s fine…” Hinata said. “It looks delicious, in fact… I-Itadakimasu...” Hinata continued, before starting in.  
  
Naruto was a bit confused, but didn’t bother to push it too much further.

Really, the problem was the opposite. Hinata had spent so much time talking to and following Naruto that it was definitely dinnertime, and she was starving. She knew she very well could easily eat every last bite and drink every last drop… but then Naruto would probably think she was greedy, just like all the kids who used to joke and tease that she must wear her baggy hoodie all the time because she was fat underneath, even though she trained plenty and she didn’t think so. If anything, she thought she was too short and easy to push around.

Then there was Father, telling Hinata that her appetite wasn’t ‘ladylike’, and that she didn’t need to eat so much if she was going to put up such disappointing training results... And even Mother, quietly agreeing with him, because if she couldn’t be a good heir, then all that was left for her was being raised into some respectable nobleman’s cute, petite, submissive little trophy who wouldn’t cause any trouble.  
  
The thought made something sharp, acrid, and unpleasant well up inside of her, and suddenly she lost all thought of trying to hide her appetite… but the drive to help Naruto steal that scroll flared stronger than ever.  
  
Oh, wouldn’t it be lovely if that scroll taught her how to grow wings, and just fly away…  
  
“Man, wouldn’t it be cool if the scroll could teach us how to fly?!” Naruto suddenly asked.  
  
Hinata blanched, almost choking on her ramen. He’d been thinking like that too?!  
  
“I- Yes, I certainly think so…” Hinata replied.  
  
“No one would be able to tell us what to do! We could go anywhere and they couldn’t stop us! And think of the pranks we could pull! All the cool tricks we could do! It’d be so much fun!” Naruto said.  
  
Hinata’s eyes narrowed for a moment, a spurt of suspicion running through her. Naruto was focusing on the fun aspect, but… Chancing a glance at his eyes, at his body language… The bittersweet edge to his smile, the tinge of sincerest hope in his eyes…  
  
She suspected that part of him had the exact motivation she did, in that regard.  
  
Hinata finished all of her ramen on top of a generous helping of daifuku he threw in for dessert, which she was once again too polite to turn down. Shockingly, at least from her perspective, Naruto didn’t show even a hint of mockery or disgust at the fact she’d eaten it all.  
  
They’d talked a bit more about strategy while eating as well, but Naruto’s general scheme just seemed to be “take enough supplies to keep our options open, then play it by ear”, a strategy she couldn’t exactly critique too much. It was a bit crude, but it wasn’t like she knew much more than Naruto did. And she knew Naruto could think outside of the box when he wanted to.  
  
Before too long, but after Hinata insisted (three times) on helping Naruto clean up at least a little (he had spoiled milk in his fridge!!!), they were all set to go.

* * *

  
When the two arrived at the place the scroll was being held, Hinata immediately set to work staking things out with the Byakugan, much to Naruto’s immediate fascination.  
  
“Say, when you do the veiny-eyes thing, how far does that let you see?!” Naruto excitedly asked. Hinata silently made a motion for him to be quieter, but then gave her answer.  
  
“Well, f-for one thing, it’s the Byakugan… s-second, about twenty-five meters, right now. My cousin Neji nii-san is already almost up to fifty, and Hanabi already matches me, s-so it’s not all that great, but-”  
  
“That much is still a lot in its own right, isn’t it? Especially at times like this! I sure can’t clearly see something that far away right now! And you can always get better at it, for sure!” Naruto said.  
  
“I-I suppose you’re right…” Hinata said. “It’s normally that far in _every_ direction, but if I limit the directions, I can see further. It’s just that it takes a bit more effort to do that, since a big sphere around you is it’s normal state.”  
  
“Oh, that makes sense!” Naruto replied, impatiently hanging out by the door to the secluded building. There were no guards in obvious sight, and Hinata had already checked for any kind of underground section.  
  
A useful trick while on ground level was typically to simply ignore surveying anything underground unless you were expecting it to be an issue, so just by doing that, Hinata’s range at least got bumped up a bit more. The only issue was that as vision at tighter angles always radiated outwards with increasing width, but the total volume of space you could see was always the same.   
  
With that issue in mind, it was wrong to simply think that halving the angle would let you see twice as far within the remaining field of view. Any Hyuuga worth their salt had to know that, and be good at quickly judging distances. So, just using the hemisphere trick only got Hinata a bit over 30 meters… Not quite thirty-two, she’d say. Going down to just a fourth of a sphere only got her to just about 40 meters of distance, which she honestly found a bit demoralizing if she spared even a second too long to dwell on it. Eliminating so much field of view, just to still come up shorter than what Neji could do by default.... It was really no wonder that just training the Byakugan further was vastly preferred to relying on angle tricks.   
  
There were detail tricks too, trading definition for further distance, but they were unreliable too, tending to inherently defeat the purpose of trying to see further anyway. The devil was so often in the details, after all. 

Still, once Hinata tightened the field of view as much as was practically possible and still didn’t see anyone, she and Naruto set about actually trying to enter.  
  
Naruto had been warned to not try to get in without her, and as she’d begun to suspect, there was a seal on the door along with three conventional locks. A quick scan told her the place was windowless, too. Besides just the outer door seal, there were actually two seals on the _other side_ of the front wall, one on either side of the door… and they were pretty high up, compared to the door seal. It wasn’t exactly an unusually tall building, but she was pretty short, and they hadn’t been able to bring a ladder or anything like that.  
  
Hinata’s cheeks began to heat up as she quickly realized the sort of help she might have to ask Naruto for..  
  
“Hey, what’s with all the security for just one scroll?! Mizuki-sensei never said it’d be like this!” Naruto cried, started to get worked up.  
  
“Naruto-kun, i-it’s okay, I think…” Hinata said, trying not to let him see that she was having doubts of her own. “I think we can work with this,” Hinata said. “F-first, we need to safely deactivate the seals with- without triggering them. I can do that with the help of my Byakugan. Seals have chakra, well... _sealed_ in them in certain, complicated patterns. If you’re really, _really_ careful, there are some cases where you can dissipate the chakra, or, or sort of ‘pause’ its activity for a bit to safely crack them in, in ways that weren’t intended.” Hinata explained.

“And, um, m-most people would need a lot of special training to get away with that, b-but with my eyes, you can see the chakra inside and, and it’s a lot easier… So, um, with that in mind, I’d at least say we, we’re pretty lucky that these don’t, don’t seem overly advanced… there are cases where even with Byakugan, this method is- is too risky, or just... impossible.” Hinata concluded, as she continued to closely study the seals and chakra patterns within them, and how they connected to the locks and the rest of the building. 

There were definitely traps, embedded in the walls and floors. There wasn’t exactly a proper basement, but there was a pretty nasty and troublesome pitfall trap. Right after you went in, there were two thin tripwires too. The teachers really weren’t messing around. Hinata was starting to get suspicious, even. Was it actually just a strange make-up test at all?  
  
Still, Hinata couldn’t focus too much on that, because she couldn’t help but feel a wave of anxiety and a sense of self-loathing steadily coming to a bubble deep within her. With all her quietness and stammering, there was no way Naruto really caught on to what she was trying to-  
  
“Oh, that was actually pretty interesting! Better than when Iruka-sensei’s rambling on about stuff… You go slower, and your voice is way quieter, but it’s kind of calming, and that makes it easier to handle once I get used to it,” Naruto said, with the earnest kind of smile that nearly bowled Hinata over.  
  
Hinata blushed profusely. Was it possible to die of facial overheating? Too much blood in your cheeks and not enough in the rest of your body? Hopefully not, or she’d be done for by morning. “Th-thank you… Naruto-kun.” Hinata said, suddenly feeling the brewing wave of self-loathing replaced by a soothing balm of ease and even… confidence. She took a deep breath and continued.

“There’s one seal on this door and two on the inner wall, once you’re inside. A couple of tripwires, too. So, I have an idea… hopefully. I-if the seals are still up, and we tamper with them carefully, or we damage or tamper anything else t-to force entry, that’ll, that’ll probably trigger the security system, s-so… _H-hopefully, m-maybe,_ in _theory,_ I can project my chakra through the walls well enough to deactivate the other two seals from out here.”

“Alright, Hinata! I’m counting on you!” Naruto said with a bright smile, which Hinata would’ve normally expected to make her feel terrified of making a mistake… but somehow, with the cheeriness and enthusiasm he exhibited, the implication that he already had utmost confidence she’d be able to do it… it wasn’t nearly as bad as she thought.  
  
Hinata started on the first, most accessible seal in short order. Like she expected, it wasn’t particularly hard. She sort of likened them to untying knots. Kind of difficult to get a start on sometimes, but once you knew where to start, and where you could get away with making a little cut or two, the whole thing started coming undone pretty easily.  
  
From Naruto’s perspective, she was working intently with her left hand, fingertips glowing subtly with power in the night as she rapidly traced the seal over and over, in a series of intricate patterns and curls he couldn’t possibly keep up with.  
  
Outwardly, almost nothing changed when Hinata’s handiwork was finished. The paper seal just crumpled inwards a bit, and then almost soundlessly ejected all of the chakra it’d been holding in a steady, sky-blue plume of it, not unlike emptying an aerosol can. Once it was rendered inert, Hinata breathed a sigh of relief. In contrast, Naruto gave a sharp cheer, startling her more than a little.  
  
“Sorry!” Naruto said immediately. “I’m just happy you got one! That means the odds that you can do the others are looking even better now!”  
  
“T-that’s okay. I’m okay now,” Hinata quietly replied, even though she admittedly felt like she’d just about jumped out of her skin. “B-but, listen, there’s… there’s something important you need to do for me for the others, because, because they’re um, they’re pretty high up, and, well, you see, the thing is, I-”  
  
“Oh, you need to get on my shoulders?” Naruto asked, all too casually. Hinata could barely contain herself. Obviously, it really wasn’t that big of a deal if you weren’t obsessively reading into every little detail the way she was, and she knew that, but…  
  
“Y-yes, please, i-if that’s okay with you…” Hinata said quietly.  
  
“Jeez, you don’t have to be so polite about it!” Naruto said with a laugh, before offering his back like it was the simplest thing in the world.  
  
Hinata had to resist the urge to faint as she accepted the offer, doing her best to just clear her mind and agonize over it as little as Naruto did. She only partly succeeded, but that’d have to be enough.  
  
Once Hinata was in position, she quickly noted, with a rush of delight, that Naruto was pretty strong. He didn’t seem to be particularly struggling to hold her up, and his hold on her was easy and secure.   
  
It also made Hinata feel a little better about the kids who used to joke she must’ve secretly been fat.

Naruto got her into position behind one of the two upper seals, with her giving directions, and she got to work once more.  
  
As she expected, it really wasn’t nearly as easy as the door seal. It was a bit more powerful and complicated even _without_ its unfortunate positioning. She practiced on a patch of wall adjacent to the seal, and even just having to get her chakra to pass through a wall threw off a _lot,_ and upped the effort she needed to put in considerably _._ Seal-cracking wasn’t supposed to be an especially chakra-intensive business in most cases, more a matter of tight focus and control backed by knowledge and practice… Regardless, Hinata was estimating the upper seals were going to take _five_ _times_ as much chakra, on top of tighter focus and control than before to truly succeed without tripping the seal in the process, which would completely defeat the whole point of what she was doing.  
  
After a while, not wanting to force Naruto to carry her all night, especially because she could tell he was already getting fidgety, she took a deep breath and started on the scroll itself.  
  
It was a royal pain, it took twice as long, she was sweating and trembling and almost queasy with nervousness… but eventually, the deed was done. Things were so quiet that there was a very soft hiss of rapidly escaping chakra from within the building, and even if she couldn’t also see the chakra plume for herself, she knew she’d succeeded.  
  
Once again, Naruto loudly cheered, but she was more prepared than before.  
  
“Knew you could do it! Are you ready for the other one, or do you need a break?” Naruto asked.  
  
“N-no, it’s best if I get to it now.” Hinata said, even though a break would’ve honestly been sort of nice. “That… that gives me less time to overthink this, too. T-there, there has to be certainty in the movements when you deal with these, if you hesitate too long it’s no good… The chakra snaps back into its proper channels and it’s all for nothing. I’m pretty sure these seals are linked up in a way that I don’t have much longer to solve them, either. I’ve just been doing this in a way that delays the proper reactions.”  
  
“I see…” Naruto said quietly, but obediently moved her to the last one regardless.  
  
Hinata had temporarily ‘jammed’ the chakra signals the three seals sent to one another, but she could feel the chakra shifting and getting agitated, the seal starting to ‘realize’ something was off and preparing to activate… but with one last push, one last flurry of precise movements and a quick improvisation to distort and impede the proper pattern of chakra just a bit longer, there came the start of another soft hiss, and Hinata could see the chakra lose its coherency and rush out of that seal as well.  
  
“I-I got it! The hard part is done!” Hinata cried.  
  
“Awesome!” Naruto whooped. “Scroll, here we come!”  
  
Hinata got off of Naruto’s back easily enough, more than a bit tired and strained from so much focus and fretting but managing to brush off his concerns.  
  
Compared to seal cracking, lockpicking was honestly way less scary. With a Byakugan to help you know what you were doing, almost kind of relaxing, honestly. Hinata enjoyed how methodical and yet simple the whole process was. After Naruto handed her some things they’d brought that could be used for improvised lockpicking, and a quick check to make sure there were no further door traps, Hinata got to work once more.  
  
Oddly, the locks were kind of hard, but honestly not nearly as hard as they could’ve been. Hinata could see they hadn’t been updated in a while, for whatever reason.   
  
Before long, definitely a fraction of the time the seals took, she gently swung the door open without much further fanfare, and quickly warned Naruto about the initial tripwires. He needed it, he was practically vibrating with excitement. It was… adorable, in Hinata’s honest opinion.  
  
From there, things were oddly smooth sailing. It was actually kind of scary, how fast and easy it was to take the surprisingly large scroll from its ornate stand in a hidden compartment towards the back of the old building and simply leave the way they came.  
  
It had to mean something particularly nasty was going to happen soon, if Hinata’s anxiety had any basis in reality. She had to admit, sometimes it didn’t… but she’d been right enough that she’d never shake it entirely.  
  
The two quickly got to reading the scroll once they were outside, the first technique listed being “Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu”, something that immediately set Naruto on edge. Quickly, Hinata was trying to comfort him.  
  
“D-don’t worry! I’ll help you through it, Naruto-kun… I can see chakra flow, and modify it with the Gentle Fist. I don’t really know about this technique in particular, b-but there are a few things that usually apply to just about everything… S-so just try it, and I might be able to give you some help with how your flow should be.”  
  
“Thanks, Hinata! You’ve been a lifesaver on this whole trip!” Naruto responded, making Hinata once again feel like she was on cloud nine for a moment. As foreboding as it was to have things go so weirdly well so far, hearing Naruto say that one thing made everything feel like it was worth it.  
  
Hinata activated her Byakugan… and she’d glimpsed the problem before while scouting and seal-cracking, but hadn’t really focused in on it. Before, she’d blown it off as Naruto’s restlessness, but now…  
  
Well, the thing was, his chakra didn’t flow so much as it _raged._ If a normal chakra system was supposed to be a stream, Naruto’s was a series of pounding rapids. The _amount_ was incredible, but it was so poorly refined it was almost scary. Was that even _healthy?_ And the quality of it was odd… It was plentiful, but there was a subtle tinge of _something_ to it, something dark and strange that worried Hinata further.  
  
“N-Naruto-kun… first, please try relaxing. A lot. Try to meditate, and take deep breaths for a while,” Hinata advised. “I’ll do it with you, even. I’m not quite sure why, and I’m not, I’m not trying to be mean, b-but your, um, your chakra flow is really choppy and turbulent, and, and the chakra pressure seems dangerously high.... I’m kind of worried, honestly. I-if you, you push that hard, n-not many techniques will actually work, and, and I don’t think it’s good for you in general...”  
  
“W-well, I normally don’t go for this kind of stuff, but if you say so…” Naruto said with some surprise. He wasn’t really about to argue, all of Hinata’s help had worked out for the best.  
  
So, before they actually started on the technique, they merely sat on the grass and did their best to relax for a while, letting the cool night air clear their thoughts as best as they could.  
  
Hinata, carefully watching Naruto’s chakra through closed eyes, could see that it was helping, but not nearly as much as she expected.  
  
It’d have to be a more proactive approach, then.  
  
“Naruto-kun, don’t move. I’m going to try to alter your chakra flow directly. I’ll have to um, hit you in a lot of places, but it-it shouldn’t, it shouldn’t actually h-hurt… is that okay?”  
  
“Do whatever you gotta do, we already got the scroll,” Naruto nonchalantly replied.  
  
Hinata gulped. _Even more_ touching Naruto… But if it would maybe help him… She had to put that shyness aside at least a little.  
  
So, she went about the whole process of methodically jabbing and tapping at Naruto’s tenketsu, sometimes having him shift position a bit. The trick was to not _close_ tenketsu, but merely _narrow_ or _widen_ them as needed, simply _tempering_ the chakra rather than blocking it.   
  
However, simply narrowing everything only made the pressure issues worse, while too much ‘slack’ made the refinement problem worse, so there was a bit of trial and error, and things went on longer than Hinata had originally planned… Naruto had to lay himself out spread-eagle while she kneeled beside him, continuing her work.  
  
After a few minutes of concerted effort, and sort of playing an impromptu game of “hot and cold” based on Naruto’s winces compared to his sighs of relief and contentment, she felt like she had it down reasonably well. Not perfect, but good enough that Naruto was in a better position to try jutsu. Some kind of weird, dense knot of chakra in Naruto’s abdominal region was where she had to concentrate the slack particularly, letting it swirl about more freely at that core area, pooling and flowing more comfortably... From there, she concentrated more constriction towards the extremities, and took a balanced approach in-between, going off of a mix of prior training, educated guesses, and Naruto’s own responses.  
  
Oddly, as Hinata looked closely, it seemed there was some kind of seal associated with the dense, hard-to-identify, somewhat foreboding chakra knot, the seal’s own chakra vastly obscuring and repressing whatever it was.  
  
She couldn’t hope to crack it, and she wouldn’t want to even if she theoretically knew how to tackle it. Trying the typical cracking methods on any living thing’s seal was far, far more likely to be either ineffectual or have horrible consequences, depending on the seal’s resilience and general capacity for self-stability… especially when the seal was so powerful and Hinata wasn’t even sure what it _did,_ exactly.  
  
Was it to try and treat whatever strange chakra problem Naruto seemed to have?  
  
No, that wouldn’t explain why it almost seemed to be the _source,_ not the _solution._ _  
_ _  
_But if it was the source....  
  
Hinata looked again at the dark, foreboding nature of that subtle trace of other chakra in Naruto’s system… and shuddered.  
  
She had a guess.   
  
A horrible, _awful_ guess.  
  
But she didn’t dare speak it. She was still hoping she was simply mistaken, after all.  
  
After a little bit of further tweaking, which was apparently the right idea if Naruto’s delighted squirming and sighing was any indication, and another quick run-through to make the effects last longer, she finally allowed Naruto to stand up.  
  
“So, how do you-” Hinata started.  
  
“You’re some kind of miracle worker, aren’t you?!” Naruto cried, suddenly hugging Hinata before she could do much of anything about it. “You must be! I’ve never felt this good in my whole life! Not even the Ichiraku Super Special makes me feel this good!”  
  
“H-huh? R-really?” Hinata asked, doing everything in her power to not faint or lose every brain cell she had in the face of Naruto’s hug. She knew that after therapeutic usage of the Byakugan, people could feel relief, a general loss of excessive body tension, or temporary revitalization, but she’d never heard of such a strong reaction.  
  
As Naruto steadily let go of her, he quickly began to explain. “Yeah! It barely hurts now! To tell the truth, it always sort of hurt, but nobody took me seriously, so I just kind of assumed it’s supposed to hurt sometimes, and you’re just supposed to suck it up and grow into it eventually?”  
  
“N-no, that’s… that’s not it at all. You never went to see a doctor about this?” Hinata worriedly asked.  
  
“Nah, they wouldn’t take me seriously either, and I needed to save money,” Naruto replied, all too casually.  
  
Hinata felt a surge of rage, but repressed it before it could truly show itself. The fact that the village considered that sort of thing something Naruto would need to _pay for himself_ was absolutely _vile._ _  
_ _  
_ _“_ H-how much did they say it would cost to see them? C-could I help you pay it? I… Father docked my allowance rather hard compared to how it once was, but I don’t need much, so I’m quite good at saving-”  
  
“I’m not gonna accept that.” Naruto sternly replied, before she could even finish. “You’ve done so much to help me already, and I’m still not even completely sure why… I know you said that stuff about how you wanted to see the scroll, and how you don’t think it’s fair that I’m behind the others, but… I still don’t completely _get it._ ”  
  
Hinata forced herself to smile warmly at him even though she almost wanted to cry. The fact that he apparently couldn’t even entirely _grasp_ why someone would want to go out of their way for him with no strings attached… Why someone would simply want to be kind to him…  
  
It was all the more heartbreaking when Hinata often felt the same way… and considering _why_ she tended to feel that way…  
  
That. That said a lot about Naruto’s sort of life, didn’t it?  
  
“I… just… think it’s important to be kind, that’s all…” Hinata said. It wasn’t the whole reason, but she wasn’t lying. She did generally approach other things that way too… and crush or no crush, being mean to Naruto after learning what she’d learned would basically constitute a capital crime in her mind.  
  
Naruto smiled warmly at her in a way that made her want to melt into a happy puddle, and from there, they finally got to actual jutsu practice.  
  
The Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu was… easier and harder than expected. It was an A-Rank, and that alone made Hinata nervous, worried that either she’d catastrophically botch it or maybe it was some sort of trick… Would they have put a _real_ jutsu of such high caliber in the scroll, if her previous theory about it all being just a test was actually true?Either way, both of them only needed a few tries to start getting it, but the ultimate outcomes were dramatically different.  
  
For Hinata, the “multiple” part was mostly irrelevant. Making two made her feel like she’d run a marathon, any more than that was outright torture. One was about all she was comfortable maintaining for more than a few minutes, and even that was more than a big deal for her, despite her chakra control far exceeding Naruto’s.  
  
Naruto could apparently make _loads_ of them and then only end up moderately out of breath. Just during mere test runs, she easily counted over a hundred of them.  
  
Still, it at least seemed like her impromptu recalibration of his tenketsu was holding up for a decent amount of time. She also went for a few more ‘touch-up’ strikes designed to introduce chakra that would loosen and slacken certain chakra vessels themselves, which Naruto greatly appreciated.  
  
Even with Hinata’s limited ability to make clones, she did at least note that every clone of hers still had her Byakugan, perfectly functioning. She felt like that could _definitely_ be useful in the future.  
  
They’d been doing some rudimentary tests of clone power and durability, and coincidentally had managed to get them all destroyed just before someone else showed up… and Hinata was resting her Byakugan, so she didn’t even notice until said person got close enough that she nearly jumped out of her skin yet again when they made themself known.

* * *

  
Fortunately, it was only Iruka-sensei. He gave them an earful, but he wasn’t particularly scary, and Hinata was at least glad that it could be a good opportunity to tell him about Naruto having problems with painful chakra. Maybe he’d be able to help, and Naruto could be a Genin after all, and then maybe they could be on the same team, and maybe-  
  
That was precisely when Hinata’s uneasy feeling that everything had been _too_ easy finally proved itself to be uncomfortably true.  
  
Iruka had asked how and why the two were there, and Naruto had just started singing Mizuki-sensei’s praises…  
  
The man himself chose that exact moment to show up in the trees, opening by sneakily launching a flurry of kunai at them.  
  
Hinata was just a bit out of range, but Iruka had to push Naruto aside to keep him from being hit.  
  
Despite her exhaustion, Hinata reactivated the Byakugan again as quickly as she could, trying to remember all the breathing and mental techniques to stretch and recoup your chakra she could. Even so, her legs felt like jelly, and her heart was pounding like mad.  
  
Naruto seemed confused, disbelieving, but to Hinata…  
  
Everything was starting to make a cold, cruel sort of sense.

Both teachers had a brief back-and-forth about who should and shouldn’t be trusted with the scroll, but soon enough, there it was.  
  
Mizuki-sensei said that horrible, awful thing.  
  
Naruto ‘was’ the Nine-Tailed Fox.   
  
More precisely, Hinata immediately knew it had to be suppressed within that strange, obscured, confusing knot of dense chakra at Naruto’s core, but…  
  
Still.  
  
 _Still._ _  
_ _  
_Mizuki was saying that _Iruka_ hated Naruto, that _Hinata_ hated Naruto, that _everyone_ hated Naruto, that _Naruto_ _himself_ had killed Iruka’s parents and so many good Hyuuga, and Naruto was screaming, and Hinata was crying, and-  
  
No. _No._ _  
_ _  
_He was wrong!  
  
It wasn’t Naruto! Naruto was the container! It was _hurting_ Naruto, if anything! It wasn’t him at all!  
  
Naruto was sweet, and kind, and brave, and strong, and-  
  
Hinata tried to speak, but then Mizuki was hurling a huge shuriken straight for Naruto, and Iruka once again took the blow for him, a sight that made Hinata sick to her stomach.   
  
Mizuki only continued speaking.  
  
“Heh… I’d bet anything that the girl’s just using you, Naruto! Think about it! She’s part of the Hyuuga! A noble, highly influential clan here! What does she possibly want with a monster, a piece of garbage like you?! She just wants someone to pin everything on, and a meat shield for when things get tough! She’s only in this for herself!”   
  
Hinata’s eyes went wide with shock. “T-that’s n-not, not true, I-” Hinata tried, as strongly as she could manage but her trembling voice was all too easy to speak over.  
  
“How sad… I’ve spoken with your old man before you know, Hinata. Apparently… as ritzy and glamorous as your bloodline is, all that power in your family, those fancy eyes, you’re nothing but a dud! The guy’s so disappointed in you he doesn’t know what to do with himself! Griping and groaning about how he wishes you had more drive, could be more like your cousin! Ha! No wonder you decided to come out here with a freak like Naruto, huh?! You’re just some sad little eavesdropping girl who wants to be strong so Daddy will love her, huh?” Mizuki taunted.   
  
“Shut up! That’s not true! None of what you’re saying is!” Naruto venomously spat, clenching his fists and his jaw alike while desperately trying to keep tears from welling up. Hinata’s bottom lip was trembling, her whole body stiff. She felt like she could just crawl into a hole and die.

“You know what Naruto, maybe you’re right! Maybe I _am_ wrong!” Mizuki started, his shit-eating grin only getting wider. “Maybe that little dud of a Hyuuga ain’t in this for herself after all! But only because misery loves company, really. She just saw another little no-good freak and got all excited because she knew there was someone even _more pathetic_ than she is! Finally, a brat so stupid and pathetic that even _she_ could feel better about herself!”  
  
Naruto was practically frothing with rage at that point, while Hinata herself merely trembled helplessly, tears welling up faster than she could stop them…  
  
But with those tears came an emotion besides sorrow. Besides mortification, shame, self-hatred, fear.  
  
With those tears came a _rage_ like nothing she had ever known.  
  
For that moment, all it did was push her to cry harder, loud and ugly and full of frustration, chakra sputtering and flaring from her in wild, useless spurts and plumes… but the gears were already turning in her head, as she willed herself to calm down. She couldn’t just stand around and let Naruto or Iruka-sensei die, not in a million years.  
  
Naruto got up and sprinted off with the scroll, while Hinata was left with Iruka… He seemed pretty injured, and Mizuki was already going after Naruto…  
  
Quickly, Hinata leapt to Iruka’s side and did her best to comfort him a bit, before quickly and wordlessly giving his body a series of quick jabs and taps.  
  
Hinata didn’t have real healing jutsu, but she did at least have a decent memory of the Gentle Fist patterns and intensities used to help with pain and promote somebody’s natural healing and chakra flow.  
  
With that, despite his injuries, Iruka was up and raring to go again in no time, thanking her profusely for her help. When she asked what else she could do, he politely turned her down.  
  
“Don’t worry about it from here, Hinata. You’ve done plenty already. I have a plan,” Iruka said, forcing a smile. Part of her wanted to listen, knowing he was the adult and she might just get in the way… but the rest of her, a louder and more frantic part, couldn’t bear to just stand by while a criminal tried to hunt Naruto down.  
  
“I’m coming too,” Hinata said quietly, but there was somehow such a fierce conviction behind the words that Iruka didn’t dare keep arguing.  
  
“Alright. But don’t do anything rash, and stay behind me,” Iruka said. Hinata agreed to those terms easily enough, and so they were off.  
  
As Iruka smoothly transformed into Naruto while leaping through the trees, Hinata realized he _did_ have a plan after all. Thanks to her Byakugan treatment, he was still able to push himself to put on a burst of phenomenal speed, Hinata only managing to keep up out of her own desperation to see if Naruto would be safe  
  
As she kept her Byakugan going, ignoring the tell-tale stinging in her eyes and the aching throb behind them that said she was starting to push herself too far, she was briefly glad she went with him, because she began to see something he probably wouldn’t have alone.  
  
From the shadows came Mizuki, having apparently tried to be clever and give them a little time to catch up while he disguised himself as Iruka… but such a disguise was nothing before a Byakugan.  
  
“Mizuki’s coming... Naruto-kun,” Hinata said, painstakingly forcing herself to be loud for once as she used the name to strengthen Iruka’s ruse.  
  
As they continued leaping through trees at a pace that wasn’t advisable for either of them, Hinata also picked up on the real Naruto, just at the edge of her Byakugan’s range, and couldn’t help the surge of relief at knowing he was still okay… at least physically. Emotionally… not so much. From the wild, storming pulse of his chakra and his erratic heartbeat, combined with his ragged breathing, and the slight tremble to him, he’d seen far better days.  
  
“Well, well, well… I should’ve accounted for the brat’s fancy-schmancy eyes.” Iruka said. “Doesn’t matter much though. Range on those things is probably pretty garbage, or else she should’ve been able to warn you a long time ago, freak,” Mizuki said with a cruel laugh, as Hinata and ‘Naruto’ dove from the trees, hoping to further distract him from pursuit of the real Naruto.  
  
Iruka dropped the disguise, not able to hold it long in his state. There was more back and forth, both Iruka and Hinata attempting to be brave, but the brief stimulation of the Gentle Fist was already beginning to wear off in the face of Iruka’s wounds and exertion. Hinata knew the stakes and the hurried movement only encouraged more blood loss in the long run. He slumped beneath a tree as Hinata put herself between him and Iruka, trembling in every limb.  
  
With conviction, Iruka gave his final shout of “I know Naruto will become an excellent shinobi!”  
  
Mizuki prepared to attack. Hinata hesitated, and got knocked aside as if she were yesterday’s trash, a devastating kick that knocked the wind out of her.  
  
Yet more rage, more impotent frustration surged through her…  
  
And then Naruto showed up.  
  
Angrier than Hinata had ever seen him, in all her years of knowing him, quite literally threatening to kill the man before them.  
  
A dark little corner of Hinata’s heart hoped he would.  
  
Then came the new technique, from Naruto, just as it seemed Mizuki might strike again..  
  
Hinata saw the opening, as Naruto used the technique, and the whole area briefly filled with thick white smoke.  
  
So much smoke, so little time.  
  
She didn’t have much chakra left, but the stand-off and heated back and forth had given her at least a little time to recoup, so she made her hand signals, fluid as anything, and transformed in the blink of an eye. She quickly slunk through all the smoke, all the rapidly forming clones, her eyes allowing her to weave herself through all the confusion and clamor effortlessly.  
  
What was one more clone among a whole clearing’s worth of them?  
  
Mizuki seemed nervous, surprised, fearful…  
  
It was perfect.  
  
Hinata silently lunged from behind, Gentle Fist striking right into his core.   
  
He tensed, his whole body shuddering, and staggered, but Hinata didn’t give him a proper chance to collapse as she continued, launching a dozen more finger jabs and open-palm strikes in a single breath.  
  
The Naruto hoard and Iruka alike could only look on in shock as Hinata’s assault continued.  
  
Her handiwork was sloppy, her eyes brimming with tears as she attacked, her exhaustion and emotional state making it even trickier to control the precise chakra outputs on top of that.   
  
But it didn’t matter.  
  
She wasn’t out to kill Mizuki, or to cause massive organ damage, or end the fight as quickly as possible.  
  
The way she was having her chakra course through him, the way it was hammering his tenketsu, it had a different purpose than merely shutting them down.  
  
And that purpose was _pain._  
  
Pain that she’d been taught to inflict for the sake of interrogations and quicker overwhelming of powerful opponents. A spin on the technique that she’d always hated, up until that point.  
  
For what he did, for what he said… for even _daring_ to throw her father’s opinions and her family standing in her face like that, when at one point he had been someone she _trusted,_ someone she was _fond_ of.  
  
Mizuki _needed_ to hurt. He wouldn’t die, she made sure of that. But he needed to _suffer._ He needed to _scream_ and _cry_ and _beg_ and _squirm_ like a tiny, pathetic, worthless little _worm_ before her fists, he needed to _feel_ even just a _glimpse_ of the agony she went through at the sound of his words, the sight of his heartlessness and betrayal…  
  
The feel of Father’s punishments for not being good enough…  
  
The feel of your only inspiration being the light of a single little blonde boy who never gave up.  
  
The needling pressure of a thousand eyes on her, constantly appraising her, constantly wondering why she wasn’t good enough, why she was so weak, why she was so useless, why she was _never_ enough, and _never would be.  
  
_ Mizuki was howling, spasming, choking and gasping, quickly taking more than enough punishment that he should’ve gone unconscious or lapsed into shock, but errant chakra was shooting through his whole central nervous system like lightning and keeping him from doing either.

He would not stop _hurting_ any sooner than he had to. He would not _get_ such a mercy, not as long as there was still chakra in Hinata’s body. He did not _need_ it, not _deserve_ it, not-  
  
“Hinata!” came a voice, sharp and familiar. She was so busy crying, so full of desperate, frantic, burning _shame_ and _loathing_ that she barely heard it.  
  
“Hinata!” it came again. She slowed, but didn’t quite stop. It sounded… sad? Regretful? Desperate?  
  
 _“HINATA!”_ it finally came, a third time, and now it sounded like the voice was speaking from multiple places at once.  
  
As Naruto’s shadow clones physically pried her off of Mizuki’s body, she realized that was quite literally what was going on.  
  
“Hinata… that’s enough. It’s okay now. It’s okay,” Naruto said quietly.  
  
Before she could even fully process what Naruto was doing, and likely before even Naruto himself could process what he was doing…  
  
He was hugging her.   
  
No, that was too light of a word.  
  
He was _embracing_ her, full-body, long and protective, holding her close in such a way that her eyes widened in shock before she almost reflexively latched on and then slumped against him, just as all the clones began rapidly dissipating.  
  
When was…  
  
When was… the last time… someone had held Hinata in such a way?  
  
Hinata couldn’t help but immediately start crying harder, right into Naruto’s shoulder, her mortification at doing so only making the tears come harder. She realized she could barely remember.  
  
Not even Mother had kept it up, not even in secret. Father wouldn’t allow it. What secrets were there to keep from the Byakugan, after all? It read all body language, all chakra flow, every little twitch and tiny pulse.   
  
And not just the Byakugan. The whole village. The whole village, silently judging her. A thousand, thousand, _thousand eyes_ , always, always, _always watching, always laughing, always and forever and ever and ever and oh dear sweet Sage_ **_she hated it so much it_ ** **_burned._ **

Blind and vacuous to everything but what they wanted to see; what they wanted to _control_ and _criticize_ and _hate._ _  
__  
_Naruto was patting her slowly, somewhat awkwardly on the back, but he wasn’t letting go. For that, she was infinitely grateful.  
  
Finally, Hinata pulled away, and she met with the brilliant blue of Naruto’s eyes before she could avoid it. Something in them was sad, heavy, concerned… but so full of pure _compassion,_ sheer _empathy,_ she hardly knew how to handle it. Sure, she was blushing furiously, fighting every impulse to run away...  
  
But somehow…  
  
Somehow, when they were looking…  
  
She found she didn’t really mind so much.

* * *

  
Things went by in a flurry of anxiety and exhaustion for Hinata, from there. Naruto got his headband. At one point she found herself hugging him again, and she wasn’t quite sure who initiated. It was morning. She’d undoubtedly worried her whole clan sick. She was too important to lose, somehow, despite simultaneously being an embarrassing, spineless reject who people would barely give the time of day unless they were obligated to. She didn’t care at all for how that worked. She was less an important person and more an important pawn, and they barely even tried to hide it.  
  
Iruka and Naruto had escorted her home, even when a couple of lower-rank Hyuuga came by and insisted they’d do it, and even with Iruka’s injuries only being semi-treated by one of them knowing some simple medical jutsu.  
  
Hinata could only bitterly wonder why the whole ordeal still hadn’t managed to rouse Mother or Father to come out personally for her.  
  
Well, not really ‘wonder’. Hinata knew damn well why. It was more like… ‘agonize over’.  
  
When she got home, they were all escorted directly into the study of Hiashi Hyuuga himself… To make matters worse, he was already waiting. Hands ‘patiently’ folded together on his desk, back ramrod straight. Cold, colorless eyes as fierce and cutting as an oncoming blizzard.  
  
Hinata felt a lump in her throat and terror in the pit of her stomach before he even said a single word.  
  
Still, both Naruto and Iruka refused to leave her side, both wanting to vouch for her in the event things went poorly. Hinata was immensely grateful.

“Gone for an _entire evening and night,_ not even a moment to stop by and give any sort of warning or excuse… of all the selfish, inconsiderate, sneaky… What do you have to say for yourself, young lady?” Hiashi asked, venom dripping from his tone.  
  
 _That you would’ve never let me do anything like this otherwise, and even if I had a benign reason to be staying out after school for only an hour or two today, you still probably wouldn’t have let me because you’d have wanted to rope me into some long, boring meeting about becoming a Genin, where you tell me all the things I already_ **_know,_ ** _where you mostly just chastise me and intimidate me with threats of what’ll happen to me and our ‘Family Pride’ if I ever mess anything up in the slightest…_ _  
__  
_Hinata thought all that and more in the space of a moment, something acrid and unpleasant frothing within her... But she couldn’t even _dream_ of saying it aloud. With her Father’s eyes, with his attention to detail, his ability to pore over ever the tiniest twitches in your eyes and the sides of your mouth… Even so much as _thinking_ it was practically a crime in itself.  
  
All Hinata _actually_ said was dramatically different, her expression and posture schooled into the image of a perfectly submissive, fearful, easily controllable little girl. “I apologize, Father, for I have no excuse for my poor behavior. It was completely improper of me, and unbecoming. I do not wish to sully the good Hyuuga name with my foolishness. I can only hope you will find it in yourself to forgive me for my transgressions.”  
  
Iruka and Naruto both flinched slightly at that. Manners and respect were important and all, but it sounded almost like she was reading from a notecard or something, intoning everything _just right_ with a sort of practiced, self-debasing precision that made them both wonder how many times she’d had to do it before.

“Actually, she _does_ have an excuse!” Naruto butted in, before Hiashi could even respond. “And that excuse is _me,_ you got that?!” Naruto cried, balling his fists and stepping closer to Hiashi’s desk. “It’s all my fault! I made her do everything! I threatened her! I blackmailed her! I knew the Byakugan would help me, so I completely used her! If anyone’s getting in trouble here, it should be me!”  
  
Hinata looked over at Naruto with both bewilderment and utter mortification, breathing shallow as her eyes went wide as dinner plates. That was basically the _opposite_ of what had happened! Why was he trying to take all the blame for her?! He was hated enough as it was, he didn’t need word getting out that he was nothing but a manipulative, conniving bully!  
  
Hiashi was disturbingly calm for a moment. Iruka was completely stiff, being 98% sure Naruto was lying but not having seen enough to truly call him on it. Finally, Hiashi spoke. “Hinata. Your apology has been noted. But for you, a Hyuuga, to be so easily cowed by a lowly, underachieving, hopeless _urchin_ like that… My disappointment cannot be understated.” Hiashi said. “And as for _you,”_ Hiashi continued, the raw contempt blatantly obvious. “ _Uzumaki…”_ His tone was like poison on its own, or like burning, the mere word enough to cause even Naruto to wilt. “First, to be so rude as to speak out of turn, and second, to thoughtlessly exploit someone for your own ends, to selfishly frighten and endanger my own daughter the way you have… you should be _ashamed._ Do you know what ends up happening, to boys like you?! _Failures_ like you, the kind of _worthless vermin_ that can’t even pass the graduation exam, know _nothing_ of honor, prestige, or duty, fit _only_ to _-”_ _  
__  
__“_ He _did_ pass,” Iruka coldly interrupted.  
  
“What.” Hiashi responded. It was not a question.  
  
“I said. He _did_ pass. As of this morning, I _have_ passed him. Nothing you say can change that.” Iruka reiterated, his tone like steel.  
  
“You _utter fool._ How could you _possibly-”_ Hiashi started, standing and slamming his hands on the desk in a way that made Hinata immediately flinch, reflexively hiding behind Naruto. Naruto literally had to bite his tongue to distract himself from the rage swelling up within him. _  
__  
_“Surely, word has already reached you. We did not arrive in a particular rush. Naruto flawlessly performed the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu en-masse, an _A-Rank_ technique. Surely you’re aware that the Academy’s Clone Technique is _nothing_ compared to _that.”_ Iruka clarified. Everyone present could tell he was straining to keep his voice level, but he was somehow managing. _  
__  
__“_ That’s not enough to forgive-” Hiashi started, but unexpectedly, another familiar voice chimed in.  
  
“And Hinata herself used it on a smaller scale,” the voice said, as its owner casually strode into the room.  
  
None other than Hiruzen Sarutobi himself.  
  
Hiashi quickly bit his tongue, letting him finish speaking.  
  
Hiruzen gladly did so, the others in the room demonstrably shocked by his arrival. “Not only that, but she demonstrated excellent potential in both supportive and offensive uses of Gentle Fist, a thorough and flexible understanding of safe seal-cracking that even most Chuunin would struggle with, perhaps even those who _also_ have Byakugan, along with the drive and tactical knowledge to take down a dangerous criminal far above her skill level. Naruto himself did not get around to landing a single blow on Mizuki. His usage of shadow clones merely created a suitable opening.”  
  
It was all so matter-of-fact that Naruto and Hinata needed a moment to even process it, until finally…  
  
“Huh?! Jiji, you… you could somehow see what we were doing the WHOLE TIME?!” Naruto shouted. Hinata somehow felt that, more than anything, made her feel faint.  
  
The notion that at _any time,_ hypothetically, she could be being _watched._ It was… She was grateful the Hokage was using the knowledge to stand up for her, but at the same time, it was _sickening._ _  
__  
_She didn’t _want_ to be watched! _No one could look at her! No one could judge her! No one but Naruto!_ It was just as bad as when Neji told her that ANBU were constantly spying on her, and knew all her secrets, and she’d run herself ragged for _weeks,_ constantly using Byakugan to try and spot them, hardly able to even sleep.

She’d had nightmares they would take her away, and torture her, and experiment on her to make her stronger, and her father would find her, but he wouldn’t even _care_ , and it would turn out that it was _his idea,_ and Mother _still_ wouldn’t do anything, and Hinata would have to rot in darkness forever, and ever, and, and, and eyes _everywhere,_ eyes _sprouting from her,_ eyes _on the wall, the floor, the bed, her hands, her tongue, her soul, her_ \- _  
__  
_Still, all she could do was fruitlessly hide herself behind Naruto further, silently trying to make herself as small as possible while suppressing the urge to cry.  
  
“I used my crystal ball, yes. It would take a while for anyone to be able to reach you all the way out where you were no matter what, but at least keeping an eye on you was within the realm of possibility.” Hiruzen explained mildly.  
  
“Regardless, Hokage-sama!” Hiashi cried. “The only reason any of this came about-”  
  
“Was that a highly selfish adult decided to play a horrendous trick on a child, and another child came to that child’s aid.”   
  
“But Naruto! He told me, he told me himself that he manipulated Hinata!” Hiashi replied.  
  
“I can almost guarantee that he lied, in the interest of protecting her,” Hiruzen replied. Naruto briefly choked on his own spit. “And although it was a lie, as a true ninja, protecting your allies and comrades is of utmost importance. Moreover, Hiashi-san, you’re typically someone with an exceptional talent for reading others. Don’t tell me that you’re so clouded by anger and prejudice that you could not see through the desperate lies of a mere 12 year old Genin?” Hiruzen asked, with the barest hint of a smirk.  
  
Naruto stiffened. Depending on how you looked at it, it could come off as mildly insulting to Naruto himself, but he was willing to accept that when he saw it was a much _larger_ blow to _Hiashi’s_ pride and competence. That was _huge,_ because it immediately and night-effortlessly took so much wind out of the man’s sails, reframing the entire nature of the critique. One could practically hear the _thud_ of him gracelessly falling from his high horse.  
  
“Well, I, well, I- In the moment, I simply- I believed that, or I should say, I felt that, perhaps, given his past history, and, well, you know, Hokage-sama...” Hiashi impotently waffled, unable to even maintain eye contact.

  
Naruto repressed the urge to laugh at how he suddenly sounded so much like Hinata. Hinata felt a twinge of smug satisfaction.  
  
“Now, Hiashi… In the interest of expanding your clan’s potential as much as possible… Wouldn’t it be advantageous to see what else Naruto is perhaps capable of doing for your daughter’s drive and potential?” Hiruzen reasoned. “I know that you don’t truly believe she’s untalented. You largely just think she lacks the devotion and discipline necessary.”  
  
Hinata repressed the urge to roll her eyes at that last bit. _“Even if that’s true, is that really a good enough excuse to be the way he is? To say nothing of how he speaks of Naruto…”_ Hinata quietly thought, only to suddenly feel guilt and fear for even thinking that.  
  
Guilty and fearful, but not exactly sorry.  
  
“But what of our reputation?! A daughter of the main branch, associating with some obnoxious, untalented troublemaker like Naruto?” Hiashi asked, desperately trying to hold his ground.  
  
Naruto winced.  
  
Hinata desperately wanted to say something, but… but-  
  
“Don’t talk about Naruto like he isn’t there!” Iruka suddenly spat, much to her shock. He seemed to remember his station soon after, hurriedly and quietly tacking on a “With… with all due respect, Hiashi-sama.” directly after, as if that would somehow fix things.  
  
Hiruzen skillfully picked up right after, before Hiashi could use that to derail things further into respectability rather than actually sticking to the point. “It’s precisely because you think such a thing that I think there’s potential in this idea, Hiashi. Imagine if this experience were able to help Naruto mature and strengthen himself, become a greater asset to the village. Imagine the Hyuuga being able to take some of the credit for such a development… wouldn’t that be something?” Hiruzen asked.  
  
“And what if the reverse happens, Hokage-sama? What if my daughter is only _further_ blemished by this fiendish child?”  
  
Hinata found herself somehow almost just as bothered by Hiruzen’s smooth talking as she was by her father’s callous pride. The rub was talking about Naruto like some kind of _asset,_ some kind of _tool,_ some kind of general _charity case_ for the Hyuuga, turning him into a way to potentially _fuel_ and _reward_ her father’s Hyuuga pride rather than chastise him for it as she felt he truly deserved…  
  
But she didn’t have the words to properly convey just how and why it bothered her so, even if by some miracle she did have the courage, especially when she simultaneously knew Hiruzen was speaking like that in an attempt to be helpful. So, she simply remained silent. Silent and secretly seething within.  
  
Meanwhile, Naruto’s teeth grit, his nails digging into his palms. What did that bastard mean, ‘further blemished’?! Wasn’t he supposed to be Hinata’s father?! He was used to people looking down on _him_ all the time, but how could he be like that with his _own daughter_ ?! Still, Iruka placed a steadying hand on his shoulder, so Naruto refrained from reacting any further.  
  
Hiruzen spoke next, polite but firm. “Hiashi. I repeat Iruka’s request. Please do not speak of Naruto as if he is not there. Second, no one said this has to be permanent. Feel free to think of it as… a wager, if you’d like. Hinata is already disinherited, is she not? Your proud lineage still has talent to spare. Quite frankly, I don’t see what you really have to lose.” Hiruzen said.  
  
Hiashi stared at the man for a long time, eyes somehow still incredibly, terribly searching despite the lack of pupils and the almost emptiness implied by the coloration…  
  
Finally, he just sighed, relaxing his posture ever-so-slightly and taking a seat once more.  
  
“Fine. I’ll allow this little ‘wager’ of yours. But if I see any signs this isn’t going well… they must break contact immediately.” Hiashi said, tone sharp and deadly serious.  
  
“It’s a deal, then,” Hiruzen said, coming forth to shake Hiashi’s hand. “Naruto and Hinata will be allowed to be friends. No malicious interference.”  
  
“Very well. We shall see what fate has in store for us,” Hiashi replied, although his tone was quite clipped.  
  
On one hand, Hinata was elated, thankful, grateful.  
  
On the other hand, she was wondering just what exactly the Hokage had gotten them into.


	2. Try To Be Team 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Team 7 is officially formed... but things aren't exactly off to a great start.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Kakashi fucks up in this chapter. I like the guy, but I didn't want to make him just suddenly a great teacher, especially not so soon. There's also a further purpose/consequence for this down the line. So yeah. Kakashi's about to do something you might not like.

Things settled down at least a bit, but under the surface, things were shifting, just a bit.  
  
On the same day Hiashi and Hiruzen made their deal regarding Naruto and Hinata, Iruka had already managed to arrange a one-on-one talk with Kurenai after school was out, regarding the composition of their teams.  
  
Namely, the prospect of switching Hinata and Sakura’s placements.  
  
He couldn’t just have Naruto get forced onto a team without such a good friend… And he actually could think of multiple more logical reasons for it, too.  
  
Unfortunately, as he began trying to explain, Kurenai wasn’t exactly going for it. The oppressive silence of the classroom, empty besides the two of them, only made Iruka feel more on edge.  
  
“To have a Hyuuga on my team would mean the full synergy of three students with heightened sensory and surveillance capabilities. I’m not in any particular hurry to give that up, Iruka…” Kurenai responded casually.  
  
Iruka was quiet for a moment, gathering his thoughts. He had to make a good case. If Naruto and Hinata were on the same team, it’d make the likelihood that they could remain friends skyrocket. “If I may, that’s actually another reason why I think this should happen. Sakura being unlike Kiba and Shino in that regard may initially seem like a disadvantage, but in the long run, it may lead to a more well-rounded team,” Iruka started. Seeing he had Kurenai’s attention, he quickly continued.  
  
“Sakura has less practical skill than Hinata, but the strength of her mind shows enormous potential. Hinata is quite intelligent herself, but she will always be at least partly beholden to the Bykaugan, and the Gentle Fist. So much of her foundation is already built on that. With Sakura, there’s still all kinds of possibilities up in the air. Heck, you could still find ways for her to expand her senses too, if you wanted.”  
  
Kurenai was quiet as well, considering that for a moment. “True. Her grades are excellent… but where’s her direction? What’s her drive, her battle skillset? Besides our basic ninjutsu, she doesn’t seem to particularly excel with anything on the field, and doesn’t seem particularly good under pressure. Behavior reports also suggest that she can actually become quite impatient and temperamental when something isn’t going her way. Hinata is calm, patient, and may be soft, but with her kind of compliance, I think I can help temper her resolve better than Kakashi could. She needs someone to instill confidence in her, and I’m not sure if Kakashi is the man you should be asking when it comes to that.”  
  
Iruke flinched slightly. She actually had some good points, especially with that last part. Kakashi ran the risk of just making the poor girl cry or something. Still… it wasn’t a _completely_ hopeless situation to imagine, not if Naruto was on the same team with her. 

So, Iruka countered, as best he could. “The Sharingan and Byakugan on the same team has enough potential that even Kakashi might take note… For his sake, I hope so. Moreover, I have firsthand knowledge that Naruto and Hinata can already work quite well together… and if there’s anything Kakashi truly values, it’s teamwork. I can only hope Sasuke will come around as well, but I honestly think it would be more likely in this scenario… I’ve seen him and Sakura interact, and Sakura… is quite taken with him. To the point that it seems to distract her considerably, while Sasuke doesn’t seem receptive or comfortable with it at all whatsoever. To be fair, I don’t believe Sasuke and Hinata will immediately get along swimmingly either, but Sasuke would at least appreciate someone who boasts a stronger foundation and will actually give him his space.” Iruka explained.  
  
“That’s all well and good, but again, what else am I getting out of this? What will Konoha ultimately stand to gain when this could easily turn out to be a poor choice?” Kurenai asked.   
  
“The worries you described with Hinata and Kakashi could potentially be even more severe with Sakura and Kakashi. Team 7 as it stands probably has the worst theoretical synergy of these new teams. Sakura, with so much potential left untapped, would likely be better off in your hands. As a kunoichi, you could understand her better. She even seems like she’d potentially excel in genjutsu… She definitely has the brains. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Iruka asked.  
  
_That_ seemed to get Kurenai’s attention, from the way she gave a small smile, her eyes narrowing with interest. “I see. That really would be nice, having a student who can actually make good use of my specialty… Alright, then. I’ll allow it. Have you spoken to Kakashi?” Kurenai asked.   
  
“He’s next. I figured handling you one at a time would be easier… Kakashi’s way less punctual, and not as easy to get a hold of anyway,” Iruka explained.  
  
Kurenai just laughed an all too understanding laugh, clearly not envying Iruka’s position. “Yes, he can be quite the slippery one. Hopefully, he’ll see things your way,” Kurenai said.  
  
“I hope so too…” Iruka said.  
  
From there, it wasn’t long until Iruka was on his own, silently dreading how Kakashi would react. He already hardly wanted to teach as it was, and he kept failing kids left and right. What if he just didn’t go for it?  
  
Iruka took a deep breath, dispelling the doubts from his mind. What he was doing was for Naruto’s sake, Hinata’s sake… and he hadn’t been lying when he said it’d probably be better for Sakura too. Maybe even Sasuke. So that was four children who stood a decent chance of being better off with his plan.  
  
He just had to hope Kakashi saw it that way.  
  
“Okay,” Kakashi said, approximately a minute and a half into the meeting Iruka had managed to rope him into a couple of hours later.  
  
“...O-okay? Really? You’re really already agreeing to this?” Iruka asked.  
  
“I don’t see why not. I still have Naruto and Sasuke… I mean no disrespect to Sakura, but she was of least concern to me.” Kakashi said casually, leaning back in his chair. “And it’s true. Kurenai will teach her better. Hinata already has more skill and training experience to fall back on, in case I…”  
  
“Kakashi. I know things have been hard for you, but… try to have some faith in these kids, alright?” Iruka softly asked.   
  
“It’s not all up to me, is it?” Kakashi responded. “They have to be ready.”  
  
Iruka swallowed hard at that.  
  
If Kakashi failed Naruto and Hinata…  
  
That might be proof enough to Hiashi that the bet was stupid right then and there.

Still… all Iruka could do was hope.

* * *

  
  
Two days later, the teams were announced. But on the day in-between, Iruka had decided to treat Naruto and Hinata to Ichiraku ramen for dinner at which point they told him about how they’d apparently spent the day hanging out with Konohamaru. That was nice. The Sandaime would definitely back their friendship harder if they were going to be nice to his grandson too…   
  
Iruka sort of hated thinking of it that way, measuring all of their actions in how they’d impress either Hiashi or the Sandaime… But that didn’t change that befriending that boy probably would help them out a bit.  
  
Otherwise, Iruka just focused on trying to lift their spirits a bit and try to vaguely hint at the fact that they were going to be on the same team, which he was pleased to see got them both excited.  
  
Naruto was excitable anyway, but Hinata had really seemed like she could use it. She seemed too tense, and she was eating her modest serving of ramen slowly, and as politely as possible, despite the fact that Iruka heard her stomach growl midway through.  
  
She went brick red at that, but Iruka managed to get her to admit she wanted more with a bit of gentle prodding.  
  
He always had felt a bit alarmed and confused by how much kunoichi ended up influenced to obsess over their weight and appetite… Especially at so young an age.  
  
As it turned out, she could easily eat just as much as Naruto, if not more… which was impressive bordering on a little scary for such a small girl, but he didn’t complain. He’d heard stories of how harsh Hyuuga training was, and he could imagine that the Byakugan and the associated changes to Hyuuga neurology didn’t come metabolically cheap.  
  
They needed all the energy they could get for what they had ahead of them… and Iruka realized that while he was thinking of that, there was a small hint he could give them, based on what he knew about how Kakashi tended to operate.  
  
“By the way, you two… if your future teachers ever recommend you skip a meal… don’t believe them,” Iruka said quietly. “Trust me. Meals are important.”  
  
“Uh… thanks?” Naruto hesitantly responded, wondering what the weirdly specific impromptu advice was about.  
  
“I’ll keep that in mind, sensei,” Hinata said softly.  
  
Once again, the only thing that was left for Iruka was to hope.

* * *

  
On the day teams were to be assigned, Naruto was content to sit with Hinata and merely attempt to greet Sakura from a distance whenever she arrived, much to Hinata’s silent joy.   
  
Normally, that would’ve made everything go quite smoothly… Naruto seemed content enough to not try particularly hard to make a scene… but meanwhile, Sasuke planned on trying to apologize to Hinata for how he’d spoken to her a couple of days ago, so it was actually him who made to approach her from the other side of the classroom.  
  
The only issue was that Naruto was the one in the seat closest to the central walkway, and Hinata was sitting to his right, so Sasuke would also have to get close to Naruto to speak to her… which was making him a bit nervous, knowing Naruto didn’t particularly like him… Apologizing to people and being emotionally vulnerable in general was torturous enough without Naruto leering at him…  
  
The whole situation would’ve probably been sort of embarrassing, but ultimately harmless, if Sakura hadn’t entered the classroom fresh off of a race with Ino, only for the two of them to see Sasuke approaching Hinata and immediately become paranoid about it. Thinking that Hinata was about to ‘steal’ all of Sasuke’s attention, Sakura immediately rushed over, and Ino made a mad dash to follow…  
  
As it turned out, both of them were moving quickly and aggressively enough to knock into Sasuke… who wasn’t able to avoid it in time due to his pre-existing nervousness…  
  
And then Sasuke had happened to fall towards Naruto in such a precise yet utterly haphazard way that Naruto awkwardly leaned away and tried to catch him… only for their lips to somehow end up meeting, out of all _possible_ other ways the whole thing could’ve gone down.  
  
The uproar was immense and immediate.  
  
_“S-Sasuke-san and Naruto-kun a-are… are_ **_kissing_** **?!** ” Hinata thought, feeling absolutely scandalized just by watching.  
  
_“I’m kissing Naruto?!”_ Sasuke thought, entire mind engulfed in panic… “ _But why don’t I hate this as much as I thought I would?_ ” Inner Sasuke continued, before he could stop him. _“Why did I just think that last thing?! Actually, nevermind, I didn’t think it. I refuse to believe I did. It was a fluke, and I will not hear otherwise!”_ Sasuke stubbornly decided, pushing it all to the back of his mind.  
  
_“Asdfvdgynvjr?!?!?!”_ Naruto thought, quite succinctly.  
  
Both Naruto and Sasuke pulled away quickly, their eyes wide with terror while the entire female student body seemed ready to rip Naruto’s throat out on the spot, yelling and hurling insults in petty jealousy...  
  
At least until Hinata abruptly stood up, shaking like a leaf, and forced herself to speak. The rest of the girls went silent, somewhat shocked by the mere fact that Hinata would do _anything_ so abruptly, or with such conviction in her eyes.  
  
“D-don’t… P-please don’t be m-mean to Naruto-kun over… over an accident…” Hinata said quietly. “I-it wasn’t his fault…”  
  
That was enough, apparently. The tension in all the girls dissolved quite quickly, some of them even looking a little embarrassed that they were about to do something so childish.  
  
Ino and Sakura did at least apologize to Sasuke, but Hinata noted with just a twinge of bitterness that _no one_ bothered to say sorry to Naruto…  
  
Until…  
  
“Sorry… Naruto,” Sasuke said, gritting it out in a way that looked like it took all the effort in the entire world.  
  
Naruto was silently stunned for a moment, having trouble honestly believing that Sasuke would ever apologize to _him_ of all people.  
  
“Uh, um... That’s a nice joke, Sasuke! Haha, saying sorry over something that wasn’t even your fault to make yourself look cool! That’s pretty funny!” Naruto half-sarcastically responded, since he honestly had no idea how else to handle it.  
  
“That’s not why…” Sasuke forced himself to respond, a twinge of irritation in his tone.  
  
“As if,” Naruto casually replied, still disbelieving.  
  
“No, really, I…” Sasuke gave a quiet sigh, backing off a bit. “You know what? Forget it,” Sasuke said, going back to his own seat before Naruto could say anything further.  
  
Naruto just looked perplexed and a bit irritated for a moment, but Hinata quietly spoke up.  
  
“N-Naruto-kun, um, I’m… I apologize, but… I… I feel he was, he was telling the truth?” Hinata said, almost too softly to hear.  
  
“Aw, come on… Why would he be telling the truth about something like that, Hinata? You have to have noticed that he doesn’t like me!” Naruto replied, in a whisper loud enough to barely count.  
  
“Even so, I don’t believe he, he really goes out of the way to be, you know, um, m-mean for no reason,” Hinata replied. “He… he’s rather intimidating, b-but he’s not really a bully, f-from what I gather...”  
  
“Well… as long as we’re not on the same team on him, I don’t care,” Naruto responded.  
  
Then Iruka came in… and of course, as planned, Team 7 then turned out to be Naruto, Hinata, and Sasuke, while Team 8 was Kiba, Sakura, and Shino.  
  
Hinata was a bit afraid of Sasuke, but not nearly enough to outweigh her joy at being with Naruto, while Naruto was just looking horribly conflicted and Sasuke tried not to look like he wanted to crawl into a hole beneath his mildly irritated tough guy act.  
  
“ _Not only the girl I was rude to for no reason, but Naruto himself!”_ Sasuke’s mind cried out in anguish. _“There’s no way I can handle this! What absolute garbage luck!”_  
  
_“M-maybe this won’t be so bad! Think of it as an opportunity! Now you’ll have tons of chances to try being nicer to them, right?”_ came Inner Sasuke’s soft voice, although it was only a modest comfort to Sasuke.  
  
Sure, he could try being nicer to them... if he weren’t probably going to die of discomfort and embarrassment first.  
  
The other girls sulked, cursing fate for putting Sasuke with the one girl who seemed immune to his charms… Hinata could feel their collective irritation, and subconsciously scooted closer to Naruto while trying to make herself smaller and less noticeable.

 _“Don’t look at me… I’m sorry… This isn’t my fault, so please, just… Just don’t look at me...”_ Hinata thought, feeling tension build throughout her entire body. She imagined she could practically feel the tingle of their gazes upon her skin, building and building until she practically wanted to crawl right out of it.  
  
Fortunately, Naruto seemed to notice her discomfort, and tried doing his best to quietly comfort and distract her with whatever light-hearted changes of topic he could think of. She had to admit, it wasn’t perfect, but it was at least helping.

* * *

A bit of time passed, and Kakashi proved… strange and underwhelming. Hinata had heard a bit about him, but she’d never imagined he’d be the way he was. She was expecting someone… _cooler,_ honestly. Or at least scarier. But he wasn’t particularly cool or scary, at least not right away. He just kind of… _was._ _  
_ _  
_ When the bell test came, Naruto and Hinata already seemed to get along and cooperate quite smoothly. Kakashi could see why the switch in team compositions had been made, just for that alone. Naruto readily heard Hinata out, and his typical temper and complaints were much less prominent when dealing with her.  
  
That was good, since Hinata herself generally seemed compliant and eager to please. Having Naruto around seemed to motivate her in areas where she seemed like she’d otherwise give up, and help compensate for her being excessively cautious or hesitant... But it wasn’t perfect.  
  
The thing was that Hinata would also easily go along with what Naruto said, which was more of a problem. He was the more assertive and gutsy, but less refined and knowledgeable one, so him taking the lead opened up a lot of flaws in their approach and the plans couldn’t get much of a chance to benefit from Hinata’s caution or perceptiveness.  
  
Kakashi wasn’t too shocked, nor was he really blaming Naruto all that much. There was a certain fault in the Academy’s system, that made it so that inequality upon graduation was practically guaranteed. They taught everyone mostly the same, mostly ignoring the fact that they had completely different home lives and personal backgrounds. Only rarely were more personalized tutors employed, as it was believed that once the students were arranged into three-man groups, they could be better ‘equalized’ from there.

Besides that, there was no way in hell the village was going to let the ‘demon child’ have his own tutor so easily, because that would be ‘unfair’, even if you pointed out the obvious logic that it was being done to make up for a lack of parents or clan. It’d frustrated Kakashi to think about, multiple times over the years. There was clearly a ridiculous gap when one member of the group already knew elemental jutsu, one probably just knew about it in theory, and the third almost certainly didn’t know what nature releases even were. It was sad… and honestly, kind of demotivating.  
  
Well, whatever. Kakashi didn’t have it in him to deal with putting his full effort into salvaging Minato’s boy, as much as it broke his heart, _precisely because_ it broke his heart. Besides that, he wouldn’t need to deal so much with people’s bullshit that way. If he were too kind or too open, they’d likely accuse him of being ‘too soft’ on the kid. Really, he couldn’t be too soft on any of them anyway. The world wasn’t soft, and they couldn’t afford to be too soft either.

They’d figure things out eventually, probably. That Hinata seemed like the helpful type. Naruto listened well to her, whenever she wasn’t just folding to whatever he said. Kakashi himself could probably just set his focus on Sasuke, then. He had skill, drive, and a more serious attitude, which would make him the best to work with on top of the Sharingan. Hinata was highly compliant, but weaker willed. It was worrying to think that if he tried being more aggressive with teaching her, she’d just shut down… So, giving her some space was probably for the best.

Ultimately, the test ended with Hinata managing both bells herself… But in a way that none of them had quite been expecting.  
  
For starters, Kakashi had gotten her to end up alone and put her under genjutsu to try and nullify the advantage her Byakugan provided to her team. He wondered if the exact nature of the genjutsu he chose was a little too cruel, but felt he had no choice but to go a bit hard on her for it to work right. The Byakugan could get pretty good at detecting and resisting genjutsu.  
  
Besides altering what the victim saw, the specific genjutsu Kakashi used also put their mind into a state a bit like sleepwalking. It wasn’t quite the same, as they were still alert... but it weakened their ability to tell that what they saw wasn’t real, and their ability to break free. Unfortunately, it also forced the caster to lose a bit of control over what _exactly_ the victim saw, instead only being able to offer ‘guidelines’ and vague ‘topics’.  
  
In retrospect, Kakashi felt he should’ve known better.  
  
The specific illusion was of Hiashi, and Hinata’s mother, riddled with horrific wounds and staggering towards her from the bushes, telling her that the village had been infiltrated and that they’d been attacked…  
  
And just when Hinata expected that they’d come to try and protect her, to tell her they cared about her after all, to try and make sure she got to safety, to hug her one last time…  
  
Their eyes became cold and hateful, and suddenly, they were _merciless._ They started berating her for being so weak. For being stupid and useless and worse than her sister and worse than her cousin, for being unable to protect them. They’d told her that all the other Hyuuga would never let her see Naruto again, that she was fat and ugly and cowardly, that they always loved Neji and Hanabi more, that she was going to be branded with her own curse seal, that she shouldn’t have been born, and it was terrible, and Hinata wanted to _scream,_ but it wouldn’t stop, it wouldn’t stop, it just _wouldn’t_ **_stop_ ** _,_ and they just wouldn’t _shut up,_ and she hated it, and she hated everything, she hated her life, she hated being born, she-  
  
Kakashi hadn’t _precisely_ planned anything beyond Hinata seeing her injured parents, wasn’t fully aware it even happened, but he had always been aware that there could be a risk it’d go worse than he thought. The jutsu’s nature was to get the victim’s own mind to ‘help’ it, to fill in blanks for it, to project their fears and insecurities into it. The other part of how it was a little like sleepwalking.  
  
She’d come running and screaming and crying for him, and he’d let his guard down, figuring the genjutsu was too much after all.  
  
That was when her so-called ‘Gentle’ Fist was used to sock him straight in the chest, the pulse of chakra seizing up his lungs and heart for a terrifying moment, preventing him from reacting as he’d like.  
  
A second strike to the stomach had pulsed her chakra in such a way that it managed to painfully force him to stand ramrod straight on reflex, at which point she took the opening and kicked him right in the crotch.  
  
That had decidedly _not_ been Gentle Fist, just Angry Little Girl. Kakashi was grateful. She could probably render him infertile if she really wanted.  
  
Either way, it’d given her plenty of time to grab both bells and run like hell.  
  
Only then, through the waves of pain and brief issues with even breathing, did Kakashi fully realize that he’d been fucking **_had._ ** **_  
_ ** **_  
_ ** Regardless, Kakashi let everyone pass after that, since Sasuke deciding to let the crying girl have his lunch was _technically_ the teamwork he was looking for, and so was Naruto awkwardly trying to comfort her, letting her cry and get snot all over his shoulder while he awkwardly rubbed her back and sometimes gave Kakashi a glare like he was going to smother him with a pillow in his sleep.  
  
When she hadn’t been too busy bawling, Hinata had given him a look like she’d chop his body up and feed it to the pigs when Naruto was done.  
  
Whatever she’d seen, it was _not okay_ with her.  
  
Deep guilt pooled in the pit of Kakashi’s stomach.  
  
“I went too far,” Kakashi said simply, standing before them as they all sat in front of the training logs he typically tied especially frustrating failures to. “I apologize. I didn’t think that genjutsu through. It partially shows you your own fears and insecurities… and I don’t have control of that part. I only had control over the general idea of what you’d see. But that doesn’t excuse the fact that I was already aware of how the second part tends to function.”  
  
Kakashi was met only with eerie silence, especially with Hinata doing her best to make herself stop crying in front of him.  
  
He supposed he deserved that too.

* * *

  
A couple of days later, when Naruto expressed jealousy at Sasuke already having Katon techniques, Hinata was at least emotionally recovered enough to try asking Kakashi about elemental jutsu. She figured he might bend more easily as an apology to her for the bell test.  
  
Unfortunately, it didn’t go that way. Kakashi was purposefully vague, telling her “not everyone could be like Sasuke”, and “It’s better not to worry about that stuff right now, you need to focus on your basics for a while longer”. She didn’t really understand his reasons all that well, and they just felt more discouraging than anything... First the comparisons to stronger people, and then the unspoken implication that she wasn’t entirely worth his time... 

Even with Hinata’s self-esteem shot to hell, she knew that just being born a pure-blooded main-branch Hyuuga supposedly made her potential for chakra control exceptionally good, let alone all the harsh training she received. She’d at least been hopeful that he’d see potential for nature releases in her because of that…  
  
Then, when Hinata asked for more help learning the basics, trying to actually appeal to Kakashi’s weird logic, he just shrugged her off and told her she could go through the library, or ask Sasuke. He had to be kidding. The library was one thing, but Sasuke was hardly sociable enough to put up with having to teach her anything. Perhaps he was perfectly aware of that, and was trying to get them to interact more as lazily as possible… but that was no perfect excuse on his end. It only exacerbated the unspoken feeling that he just didn’t want to be bothered with her at all, and that _stung._ _  
_ _  
_ _Another_ adult who thought she was weak trash… Another adult prioritizing someone else over her…  
  
Another appraising eye, half-lidded and _bored,_ seeming to wonder when she’d just shut up and leave already…  
  
He hadn’t even really _done_ anything explicitly, but _that was the problem._ Hinata found herself hurrying to get away from him, before she could do herself the disservice of crying in front of the man and giving him even more proof that she wasn’t worth it.  
  
Still, despite how it crushed her, Hinata also saw it as an opportunity… and when she discussed things with Naruto, he saw it even more clearly than her.   
  
Kakashi or not, they were going to find ways to get better. Together.  
  
Of course, she had no way of realizing that Kakashi had only acted that way in his own misguided attempt to spare her from having to deal with him more than necessary, and to remove the possibility that he could hurt and disappoint her more than he already had… In his mind, it’d just cemented the belief that he was too harsh of a teacher for her, too jaded.  
  
But because Hinata didn’t realize, and because Kakashi didn’t bother to explain his motives, Kakashi only unwittingly succeeded in doing it twice.  
  
Meanwhile, Sasuke couldn’t help but be both wary of Kakashi and suspicious of his other two teammates. What were the other two plotting, exactly? Every day, whenever they weren’t occupied with their D-Rank missions, Naruto and Hinata went off alone… Apparently, they were ending up in the library quite a bit, a fact that Sasuke could _not_ wrap his head around. Hinata seemed decently smart, but _Naruto?_ In a _library?_ The concept was so wild that sometimes he had to resist the urge to go with them, just to see how in the world that played out.  
  
Unbeknownst to Sasuke, Naruto actually _was_ making significant improvements in the area of study, with Hinata’s help.  
  
First, as it turned out, the chronic pain and general overstimulation of his chakra system had contributed significantly to his poor focus and disdain for sitting still before. With Hinata’s Gentle Fist treatments able to lessen his symptoms, things were better. Then, a conversation with Iruka ended with Naruto at least becoming able to access decent pain medication, a mild chakra suppressant, and herbs with calming properties. All together, it actually allowed Naruto to improve quite impressively.  
  
The chakra suppressant was mild enough that it helped rather than hindering Naruto, since it didn’t lower his overall chakra reserves, only the overall “chakra pressure” in his system. In other words, the amount being forced through at once compared to the overall resilience of the chakra channels and the rate his body was using the chakra up. Meanwhile, the rest was more able to simply rest in his core until actually needed. 

In a case like Naruto’s, involving chakra pressure that was so high as to be counter-productive, it was enough to let him avoid having a complete reliance on Hinata alone. Regardless, having her use the Gentle Fist to “tune” his system at least three times a day also helped dramatically.  
  
Naruto still wasn’t a perfectly attentive genius by any stretch, but Hinata’s style of keeping him engaged and helping him understand material was unlike anything he’d encountered before.  
  
Hinata was far more patient with him than any other teacher, more willing to let him take breaks sometimes, and far more permissive of him fidgeting or multitasking while working, as long as he could prove he was understanding the material. Unfortunately, even Iruka had never quite been able to fully catch on to the right approach, and wouldn’t have been as capable even under the best of circumstances, because he had the entire rest of the classroom to worry about. Most others would automatically jump to condemning Naruto for it, assuming he was being his usual disruptive self, but not Hinata.   
  
Hinata was also able to explain things in a way he could understand more easily, which in turn helped with how she spoke around him… Reading and explaining to him from books was good practice to speak more freely and start to avoid stutters, as the books would always tell her what to say at first, and then she’d have to be good with her own words to rephrase it better.  
  
Still, the two didn’t just study all day. For their purposes, they really only needed it to learn more of the basics about chakra, nutrition, exercise techniques, elemental natures, and various ninja tools.  
  
Other than that, they’d also managed to come up with a training schedule together… a surprisingly comprehensive one, since Naruto was often pushing to try and add a little more or make certain sections a bit longer. Hinata could see more than ever that he definitely wasn’t lazy in the least, he’d just always had a poor compatibility with their schooling system and his peers in general.  
  
In regards to setting things up for more efficient training, Hinata’s mother was actually of some use, since helping out a bit wouldn’t actively go against Hiashi.  
  
Hinata was able to procure a couple of transport scrolls for supplies they needed, a bit of extra money, some bits of advice she’d carefully noted down, and some of the special paper needed to test chakra natures.  
  
Physically speaking, Hinata could keep up with Naruto in the training pretty well… She was no stranger to harsh exercises, and the way she and Naruto trained was honestly more enjoyable and rewarding to her than that old training would ever be.  
  
It was largely when it came time to expend significant amounts of chakra that she started flagging… especially when she was using her shadow clone.  
  
Despite that, the fact that Hinata found using clones so much more difficult was at least sort of a good thing, as forcing herself to train and experiment with one anyway was quickly forcing her to be more economical with her energy, and to experiment with getting maximum use out of her clone. 

Even with its strain, Hinata was also quickly discovering that having even just her single clone around during training was immensely useful, as it allowed her to ‘coach’ both Naruto and herself, and help regulate chakra flow… All without making her have to train any less than Naruto.  
  
During study, clones could also allow them to study or train in multiple things at once… to a point.  
  
It seemed like clones transferred their chakra and gathered information back to the user when they were done… but it wasn’t something to be used carelessly.  
  
Each clone had a pretty large amount of chakra, and re-introducing it at all once created a spike in the body’s chakra pressure. For Hinata, using only one clone and not suffering from excess chakra, that part was fine. It felt a little weird, but that was about it.   
  
For Naruto, however, it was actually quite painful... although it at least only appeared to hurt for about thirty seconds or so before the strain on his chakra system settled a bit. The other positive was that Hinata could help him get the pain back under control more smoothly.  
  
The other pressing issue was the strain of taking on clone knowledge, which wasn’t particularly bad with one clone… but with Naruto, once again, he took it a lot harder if he didn’t seriously limit himself.   
  
For the time being, Hinata ended up making Naruto promise not to go over a total of five training or study clones. That at least lessened the recall strain enough that it wasn’t actively harmful, but it did still leave them utterly wiped out after doing it repeatedly for hours on end.  
  
The two usually had no choice but to go straight home once they reached that “mentally fried” state, because it was awful for making any kind of progress. Even for Hinata, she could feel how she became unfocused, off-balance, exhausted, and felt like she was trying to think through fog while her brain struggled to play catchup with everything she’d learned.  
  
That would be another part of the limit for Naruto. Speeding up his training with clones too much imposed diminishing returns, because the “fried” state would approach sooner and sooner, effectively cancelling out the speed at which he was multiplying his progress. It also seemed like pushing yourself too hard messed with your ability to properly retain what you learned, potentially making a good chunk of it worthless if you weren’t careful. So, just because Naruto _could_ technically go over five training clones didn’t mean it was an _actual good idea_ in any regard. _  
__  
_ Despite those drawbacks, Naruto clone-training within his limits actually seemed to work well for him, overall. It gave more of his excess chakra something to actually _do,_ places to actually _go,_ in ways that Academy training for normal shinobi children never could. In turn, all the hard training seemed to actually help him further manage the pain and stress of having the fox in his body, which he seemed to find an acceptable trade for the more rewarding pain and stress of so much exercise.  
  
They’d also studied up on tenketsu and the chakra circulatory system more, and apparently excessive chakra pressure was a bit more complicated than just having too much, there was also the concept of ‘chakra re-uptake’, or more broadly, ‘chakra demand’.  
  
Basically, chakra demand was just the body’s general demand for chakra at any given time, with periods of high exertion and chakra usage obviously increasing it. Chakra re-uptake was more specifically about how much a shinobi’s whole body was constantly burning chakra to help empower and maintain itself at a superhuman level, even while not actually using any jutsu. It was somewhat similar to how someone would burn calories for exercise, but would also still automatically burn them at a lesser rate even while they did literally nothing, just to maintain themselves. 

How high someone’s chakra pressure was theoretically didn’t matter much at all, if their body simply had enough of a demand to balance it out. And for most people, chakra supply and demand were supposed to stay roughly in equilibrium. If a person’s demand was consistently high, their reserves would steadily increase as long as they were taking proper care of themself. If a person’s supply was too high for whatever reason, demand and re-uptake could temporarily increase to meet it, although such a process typically put heavy stress on the body… It had to be gradually eased into learning how to handle increasingly large amounts of chakra, not forced.  
  
So, part of the problem was that Naruto’s body generally just couldn’t use his chakra fast enough.  
  
In turn, part of the long-term solution was just that Naruto needed to get much stronger, especially in regards to improving his body’s physical strength and base capabilities, and also needed to be pushed harder in ways he could actually understand. Doing so would require his body to increase its rate of chakra re-uptake dramatically, but gradually enough that it could do so sustainably. It wasn’t automatically enough to just use a lot during training.  
  
But Naruto had an extra problem, too. The fox was also ‘poisoning’ his chakra to an extent, rather than just making him have too much. Hinata surmised that Naruto’s body was probably stuck in a recursive trap, of sorts. It was continually taking slight but constant internal damage, so it constantly called upon more chakra to heal it almost as soon as it began… then it took more damage from that very same process, so it immediately had to heal again, and there was no real recourse but to constantly repeat the process. In turn, the whole process was probably encouraging his body to keep the overall chakra pressure high, so as to constantly have fresh chakra restoring him.  
  
Unfortunately, Hinata didn’t really know the solution to that. Both the potential avenues of ‘make the fox stop being poison’ and ‘find a way to constantly detoxify Naruto’s chakra’ were things with essentially no good leads. They’d tried asking Iruka, but he didn’t really know either. Theoretically, there could be a way to simply “wall off” the seal more completely… but it was a complicated seal, and doing that could cause its own unforeseen problems.

At the very least, Naruto’s general condition strongly suggested that the chakra’s restorative properties outclassed its destructive properties. Still, Hinata felt it was unfortunately likely that the issue was probably sticking around regardless of training, because the ratio of overall damage to healing would probably always be constant if nothing about Naruto’s chakra itself fundamentally changed.

Regardless, Hinata could at least take comfort in the fact that Naruto at least felt a lot better than before. She also didn’t mind being so tired by the end of each day, largely because being with Naruto made it absolutely worth it.  
  
A month of the two following their schedule passed, training in multiple areas every day, six days of the week. It was structured to avoid overdoing any one thing, but to always leave something else to do in the meantime. Training to unlock elements and general meditation was also still safe to do on the rest day, so they did.  
  
It may have been doubtful that either of them could endure the schedule alone… It was purposefully difficult and exhaustive, after all. But together, and with the bet between Hiashi and Hiruzen continually encouraging them both to prove they deserved to remain friends, they persevered. Iruka was able to help them quite a bit too, although he unfortunately didn’t have all the time in the world. Some days, he hardly had time at all. Even getting so much as ninety minutes uninterrupted with him only happened on weekends. His busy schedule was also why the two kids didn't bother to tell him about what Kakashi had done. They figured he had enough to worry about and was doing enough to help them without him getting all worried and then having to get all up on Kakashi's case.  
  
One of the first things Hinata and Naruto had done, not even bothering to try and get Iruka for it, was tests with chakra paper. From those, they divined that Naruto had a Wind affinity, with a sub-affinity for Fire. His paper tore in half, but the torn edges became a bit singed as well.  
  
Hinata’s seemed to be Water, with Lightning sub-affinity. The paper got wet, but crumpled at the edges.  
  
“So… what exactly does having a sub-affinity mean?” Naruto asked Hinata, once they were done testing it.  
  
“Sub-affinity is like… t-the next best thing, compared to... to n-normal affinity. You can still learn it kind of, kind of easily, b-but it’ll take roughly thirty to sixty percent more time, compared to your main affinity. All th-the techniques will also cost a-about thirty to sixty percent more chakra than they would if they were your, your main affinity. S-so, um, if it took you say, a month to learn a D-Rank Futon jutsu, th-then a D-Rank Katon would take you, um, roughly about six to seven weeks.”  
  
“Okay, I think I get it… but what happens if you wanna learn nature release stuff that just isn’t any of your affinities?” Naruto asked.  
  
“T-that can take, um, a lot longer. Fifteen times or more, I read. S-so, um, Suiton, if we’re using the month assumption, w-would take you about, um, at least fifteen months.”  
  
“And you still use more chakra than you’re supposed to?” Naruto asked.  
  
“Y-yes, a lot more, especially at first… a-and there’s a greater chance of side-effects and partial backfire, since they’re not your true natures. A Katon, a Katon is more likely to burn you, um, a Raiton could, could shock you, a-and, e-even Suiton can cause excessive sweating, or the temporary feeling of drowning. If you train enough, you can get e-eventually get around this stuff, e-especially for low-chakra jutsu… but they’ll, they’ll never be as easy as your affinities.” Hinata explained.  
  
“Man, that’s annoying! I wanted to get all five of them and totally piss Sasuke off with how cool I look!” Naruto complained.  
  
“W-well, if you focus on Wind and Fire, y-you should be able to get quite a lot out of that, Naruto-kun.” Hinata said. “I… I believe in you… more than you know.” she finished, blushing a bit.  
  
“Um… thanks,” Naruto said with a short chuckle, not quite able to look her in the eyes as he adopted his ‘I don’t know how to handle you saying nice things’ kind of expression.  
  
Hinata just thought it was kind of adorable.  
  
Because Hinata had quickly discovered the flexibility of shadow clones in training, it turned out that Naruto only needed about a week to learn one of the most basic expressions of how to convert chakra to the wind element: Cutting a leaf in half. With Naruto around to motivate her, and her superior chakra control along with the stronger foundation provided by her prior training, Hinata also only needed about a week to do a roughly equivalent feat with water.  
  
Regardless, the week felt like _forever_ for both of them _._ Maybe even _two_ forevers. It was dreadfully boring work, and Hinata could see why a lot of people took so long to use elemental releases, or just never did. Even if nearly any shinobi could in theory, such a small action took so much focus and dedication that could easily be spent doing other things. And after a certain optimal point in childhood, the older you were when you started, the harder it got to unlock them. 

It was by far easiest to learn how while your chakra pathways were still developing at their fastest, so they’d be more malleable and more receptive to change and adaptation… but what kind of kid ever wanted to do something so painfully _boring?_ Most kids with such techniques were merely lucky enough to have families with good teachers, and/or genes that let them unlock their elements exceptionally fast. Hinata had read that sometimes, it was even just flat out instinctive. Oh, how she envied those types of people.  
  
At one point, Iruka explained to the two at one point that in spite of the age factor, the Academy didn’t include it in the curriculum because it was such a tedious process that expecting it of most kids generated too many failures for the village’s liking, and dedicating enough time to significantly reduce that failure rate took up too much time that they could be using to do other things. Hinata and Naruto were only having as much luck as they were due to their own unique circumstances and approaches. 

Regardless of all the downsides, even before making enough progress to actually complete the exercise, the nature release unlocking methods were at least helpful for increasing a person’s chakra control, concentration, and general discipline. Plus, it was probably best to get such boring things out of the way while they still had a relatively large amount of time to worry about nothing but training and D-Rank missions.  
  
So, as insufferable as it all was, they decided to focus on going right into their sub-affinities instead of trying to figure out new jutsu. Even then, having one unlocked without true jutsu behind it wasn’t exactly useless. It could at least be used for very simple, straightforward actions, like creating modest gusts of wind from the palms, or producing a weak stream of water. In fact, such exercises would prove useful in learning true jutsu later.  
  
Hinata’s stated time for a sub-affinity turned out to be about right. It took about another ten days of drudgery to unlock them, freeing up the rest of the time for at least starting on simple D or C-rank elemental jutsu. D-rank was about all the local libraries and shops offered upfront anyway, especially for fresh Genin who didn’t have the okay from their sensei. Hidden villages in general tended to be pretty uptight with who could access their knowledge of jutsu. The problem was, a lot of the techniques in their elements seemed to just start right off at being considered C-Rank, and D-Rank was unsatisfyingly slim pickings.  
  
But they didn't just give up. They knew full well that there were certain other benefits to both shadow clones and an inattentive sensei like Kakashi…. And Hinata and Naruto may or may not have used those benefits to come up with a scheme to get the scrolls anyway. They knew that Hiruzen technically had a method of watching them, theoretically whenever he wanted… and that was something that filled Hinata with dread. Regardless, Hiruzen was busy enough that Naruto reasoned he probably wouldn’t do that if he didn’t have an important reason to.  
  
So, from there, Hinata had no choice but to go through with the scheme, she reasoned! They explained their situation and asked nicely, but both the scroll salesman and librarian were so rude to Naruto! And it might’ve made her a little angry, on the inside! So what if it did?! It really wasn’t fair that they were going to be so mean to Naruto, or that Kakashi was going to be so dismissive, all while Sasuke already had Katon techniques! They were only trying to be strong like him!

* * *

Really, the plan wasn’t too complicated. Hinata had noticed that pretty much whatever you had with you, it could be copied when you made a shadow clone.  
  
Using that information, the logic was pretty simple. On their next off day, Naruto and Hinata would just ‘steal’ the scrolls, but without _really_ stealing them _._ With Hinata judiciously using her Byakugan, they cased both the shop and the library, and decided to sneak through the shop’s security, since it seemed like the easier of the two options. From there, they found a discreet place near the back to make one clone each, then distracted the somewhat rude, middle-aged, balding male shopkeeper at the front desk. Hinata’s clone used her Byakugan-aided lockpicking skills to hurriedly infiltrate the back room for C-Rank scrolls. 

That one had the least security and the best chance they could actually handle the jutsu, so it was the most realistic for doing it quickly. Naruto’s clone snuck in with her, and with Hinata having used her Byakugan previously in the planning phase, they already had a diagram of where everything was without having ever gone inside before. So, with that knowledge, the Naruto clone hurriedly went about grabbing everything they might be able to use at that point and then cloning himself, using the clones to help smoothly put all the originals back where they belonged.  
  
Sure enough, the shadow clone technique didn’t care one bit about whether or not something was actually yours. Every scroll had been copied successfully. The only thing was that they’d quickly have to copy them all down with real ink and paper after they were in the clear, because the copies weren’t going to last forever.  
  
It was all a little noisy, despite their best efforts, but their original selves were doing a pretty nice job distracting the shopkeeper, having even temporarily convinced him to go outside because they thought they saw “someone suspicious”, which was given credibility with the help of a disguised Naruto clone prepared beforehand.  
  
The pair had even managed to plan out how they were going to escape and how to stealthily navigate through town and back to Naruto’s apartment, where they’d be in the clear. All the copied scrolls would be long gone in a few hours, and none of the originals were _really_ stolen, so that made for a lot less evidence. Once they had the techniques learned, the two figured it’d be easy enough to claim they’d convinced someone to help them learn those, or that Hinata had simply seen other people use them before and managed to practice them using her memories of them. Hyuuga didn’t all do literally nothing but taijutsu, after all. Gentle Fist was deeply important to the Hyuuga, but their naturally high chakra control was too great for all of them to want to sink everything into taijutsu.  
  
The final push to get every clone out of the store safely without any duplicated scrolls being seen was _tense,_ but they somehow managed. They were almost caught, but the real Hinata suddenly made enough basic Academy clones to briefly obscure the shopkeeper’s vision, under the guise of wanting to “show him something cool”. By time she dispersed the distracting clones, every clone involved in the heist was well out of sight and down the nearest alley.  
  
The shopkeeper was a bit confused, but overall came out of the experience with his opinion of Naruto ironically heightened a bit. Hinata and Naruto had chosen their distraction method to be a mix of asking about his day, followed by the supposed “suspicious activity”, and then a lengthy “apology” to him about having previously pestered him, and a bunch of self-debasing things about how he “clearly knew best”, and that it was “thanks to him” that they understood that they weren’t mature enough to be trying C-Rank jutsu unsupervised.  
  
On top of the flattery, boosts to his competence, and his increased smug sense of knowing better than them, Hinata’s Byakugan had also previously been used to look through the front counter’s drawers and divine what his favorite kind of candy probably was. It was the main edible thing inside of them, so they’d also brought it to him as a sort of ‘peace offering’.  
  
What he didn’t know was that the candy was a copy too, and that it’d soon vanish as well.  
  
They both figured a little prank like that was the icing on the cake.  
  
Back at Naruto’s apartment, once they had time to catch their breath and merely look at one another for a moment, letting the gravity and ridiculousness of what they’d just pulled off sink in…  
  
In the next moment, both of them simply started laughing their asses off.  
  
“I can’t believe we really got away with that!” Naruto cried.  
  
“Neither can I!” Hinata agreed, her laughter high and thin.  
  
“Man, it’s really great that you told me about how easy you can butter people up when you talk to them like that, I didn’t think it’d work so well!” Naruto replied.  
  
“Oh, I do it all the time,” Hinata explained, once she calmed down a bit. “Usually not to trick people, but… Adults really eat it up. They just _love_ to look like they’re better than kids. It tends to get them overconfident, I’ve noticed. Usually, it just helps you get off the hook faster, but I figured this way, we could use it to trick them too… D-does… does that make me a bad person, you think?” Hinata asked, growing a bit fearful at the end. Her stuttering around Naruto had already decreased dramatically, but certain things could still make it flare.  
  
“Pfft. Bad person? We’re _shinobi!_ In real situations, we’re _supposed_ to trick people and play dirty sometimes! I think you’re awesome, Hinata-chan!” Naruto said. “You seem like this scared, gloomy girl, but then you find all this courage to work hard and pull off crazy stuff like this! Plus, it was so much fun! Out of all my pranks and schemes, I’ve never pulled off something this serious!”

Once again, Hinata’s face was red as a tomato, but she quietly managed to thank Naruto regardless.  
  
“I-I would’ve never done something like this by myself… n-not in a million years. It’s only thanks to how brave you are that I’m able to feel braver myself, Naruto-kun…” Hinata responded.  
  
“Even so, Hinata-chan, you’re a whiz at coming up with ideas for this kind of thing, and your Byakugan is super useful, and you’re really creative and helpful… and you’re always helping me, even when it might get you in trouble, or even when I’m being an idiot and making it harder on you…”  
  
“W-well, you’re not an idiot… and we’re teammates now. And… and friends. That’s what both of those things are for. Helping each other do things you can’t do alone,” Hinata said. “Without all the shadow clones you can make, that plan wouldn’t have worked. And really… I think it could’ve all been even easier if we had just gone late at night. B-but it seems like the shopkeeper activates more seal security when he closes the place, and besides that, I’m still scared to sneak out of my house at night… Every Hyuuga has the Byakugan, and some people can see _way_ farther than I can with it… Father’s can easily see over fifteen kilometers, if he focuses it in a certain direction.” Hinata fretfully explained.  
  
Naruto flinched at that.  
  
“I’m not amazing at distances or anything, but that sounds like a _lot_ to deal with,” Naruto said sympathetically.  
  
“It really is,” Hinata ruefully replied.  
  
“Even so, you don’t have to worry about all that right now! The important thing is, the plan worked!” Naruto cheerily replied, lifting Hinata’s spirits a bit.  
  
Regardless, the place was still crowded with all the clones around, and Naruto was terrified to let any dissipate, having no idea if it was even _theoretically_ possible to ever learn how to dissipate them while still keeping their things around. So, once Naruto and Hinata got themselves situated, they rapidly got to copying scrolls down at the kitchen and living room tables, since neither table had tons of space.  
  
Only Hinata’s clone and one of Naruto’s clones helped beyond just getting them supplies and passing them more scrolls, because he didn’t want to risk the prolonged, sustained thought and focus demanded of too many clones causing any others to disperse, but it still meant the process would go twice as quickly as usual. Hinata had thought to do a small experiment with clone writing beforehand, and it apparently worked fine as long as they used real paper and real writing implements, or engraved the words into a real substance. If they used real paper but copied writing instruments, the paper would be fine, but all the writing on the paper would disappear as soon as the implement itself did. Real writing instruments on copied paper resulted in vanished paper and a useless leftover residue of ink, graphite, paint, or whatever else was used.  
  
It was a pain, and their wrists began aching with the fervor of how they were working, trying to hurry because they weren’t entirely sure just how long all the shadow-copied scrolls could be kept around… But they were at least able to shoot the breeze throughout the process, to make it less mind-numbing. So, after about three hours, they had everything they wanted meticulously traced and copied as needed.  
  
They congratulated all the clones on their hard work and patience, and with a collective sigh of relief, all the clones promptly vanished in puffs of smoke, the shadow-scrolls going with them. Really, they were all quite glad to no longer have to sit around cooped up in a tiny apartment.  
  
Once all that was done, the two were starving from all the effort. So, they promptly made dinner together, which was still just ramen as usual, but with a wider variety of added ingredients and some salad on the side.

Even just the difference in eating was creating an appreciable difference in training outcomes, for Hinata and Naruto alike, since a bit more money was starting to come in from D-rank missions and Hinata still had allowance savings. Hinata also had the increased freedom of being a genin, and she was able to claim “team training” and “missions” as good reasons to spend a lot less time on Hyuuga property, so nothing was stopping her from eating as much as she wanted.  
  
Meanwhile, Naruto was eating more fruits, vegetables, and even a couple of new dishes, since Hinata brought the ingredients by. Hinata wasn’t an experienced or wonderful cook by any means, but she’d invested in a simple cookbook. Fresh produce could simply be chopped up and added to other things when needed, and she was actually pretty good at that right off the bat. She already had a lot of training in quick, precise hand movements. Naruto’s efforts were a bit more crude, but still serviceable in the end. 

Grilling vegetables was a little bit harder, but not actually too difficult either… Nor did Naruto actually hate them as much after they went through such a process, and got seasoned properly. Ramen with grilled vegetables, a bit of real meat, some egg, and a bit of salad on the side was a major benefit compared to regular instant packets of it… and money-wise, it beat going to Ichiraku’s all the time, even though they obviously still did from time to time. Sometimes, Iruka would even treat them.  
  
Over the approximate last half of the month-long training period, Hinata and Naruto finally started on real elemental techniques... But that wasn’t all. Besides that, ever since the start of the training period, Hinata had secretly been going above and beyond, whenever she was back home and alone for the night. She figured that since she’d usually at least mostly recovered from her mental fatigue by then, it would be a shame to just ‘waste’ the time she had later into the night.  
  
To Hinata’s frustration, she’d found out the hard way that sleeping was too shallow and fitful to be worth it if you were simultaneously trying to use a shadow clone to squeeze in more training or study. Nor were the clone’s actions really worth it at that point. It was technically _sort of_ possible to do both at once, but each cancelled out all of the other’s benefits.  
  
But what Hinata _could_ do was use a clone to stimulate her chakra flow and temporarily alleviate some of her grogginess and soreness when needed. With that methodology, she could routinely get away with only four or five hours of sleep a night.  
  
The extra three or four hours was valuable time to sink into more practice before bed, when she’d normally only have about an hour, or two if she was lucky…  
  
Most frequently, the practice to unlock Wind Release.  
  
She knew it would take her a far longer time compared to Naruto, but that was exactly why she felt she had to clear out as much extra time as she could to do it anyway. She wasn’t exactly sure if it was the healthiest method in the world, but her father had put her through worse, and she told herself that it would just be temporary anyway.  
  
After all, what was a little more sleep compared to the chance to someday be able to use Naruto’s main element? The chance to prove, beyond a doubt, that she deserved to be Naruto’s friend, that she was his equal… It filled her with a giddiness like nothing else, even in the face of what a long road she had ahead.  
  
When the rest of the world was awake, Hinata trained with Naruto as usual, the two of them focusing on the first techniques they’d decided on together, after some deliberation. Naruto chose Gale Palm, while Hinata chose Water Shuriken. Gale Palm allowed the user to generate high winds from their hands, which could also be directed to briefly surround their body. It was great for both speed boosts and distancing dangerous opponents from you, or upsetting their balance and knocking them into more precarious positions.  
  
Water Shuriken allowed you to effectively have a much higher supply of shuriken than normal… Eventually, it also became possible to propel them mentally instead of physically throwing them, and the technique opened up the possibility that you could go on to learn to form other shapes and weaponry as needed. There was also the even further possibility that once Hinata practiced more, she could change their trajectory in midair, charge them with her Lightning Release, or Naruto could increase their speed with his Gale Palm.  
  
Since Hinata would be utilizing Water Release, and she knew it saved a lot of effort to not have to make water, Hinata also ended up investing in a ninja tool that was essentially a water pouch that could be easily carried on the hip. It had a lid that could easily flip open, and the pouch was seemingly “bigger on the inside”... which was really just a simple scroll and seal trick.  
  
A waterproofed containment scroll was sewn on the inside, with a seal made to make it automatically refill the container whenever it wasn’t at capacity, as long as the seal had water left. It wasn’t anywhere near infinite, especially because the scroll and its symbols had to be compact enough to fit inside… but it was possible to replenish the scroll, and it could still hold about ten gallons at a time. It was also still plenty useful for the simple utility of being able to store a lot of clean water for mundane purposes, while one was on a mission.

Overall, the combination of a specialized scroll and a pouch made for something more convenient for rapid use than a water-holding scroll alone, although it was also a bit on the expensive side for their budget. Still, Hinata felt it was worth it. It was especially nice that it was still simple enough that her shadow clone could inherit a perfectly functional copy of it.  
  
Naruto and Hinata had also both invested in some wearable weights for training (although nowhere even remotely near as absurd as Rock Lee’s) and a special variety of training bandage, inlaid with a repeating series of small seals. The purpose of the bandages was simply to make chakra output and control more difficult while they were worn, but not impossible. In the process, it forced the user to strive to higher standards in order to use their jutsu. In a pinch, they could also be alternatively used to bind and weaken an enemy… it just had to be remembered that they didn’t impact the ability to use chakra _internally_ at all.  
  
The idea was Naruto’s, as he figured that a harmless, self-imposed handicap would help force his control to improve, make him burn more chakra while training, and ultimately lessen his reliance on Hinata or medication. Hinata, despite not facing the same difficulties, decided to wear them too, figuring it was good for solidarity and for forcing her own control and reserves to slowly improve.  
  
Finally, the whole training process managed to attract Sasuke’s attention one day, when his curiosity became too much for him to bear…  
  
He just _had_ to know what Naruto and Hinata were always running off alone to do together, especially when whatever it was actually seemed to be helping them, even after only a month of work… and he’d noticed their suspicious new things, whenever Kakashi actually wanted them all to check in and actually do some training under him to display their progress… It only happened about once a week, to Sasuke’s infuration, but it made things all the more jarring when it came to noting differences in his teammates.  
  
Hinata’s water flask, the training bandages, the weights… The continuous feeling that they were somehow hiding something...  
  
It all made him all the more curious…  
  
And the changes in how they tended to act, too…  
  
By time a month went by, Hinata was actually whispering things in Naruto’s ear that would make him laugh like a hyena, to Sasuke’s utter shock. Hinata told jokes?  
  
And since when was Naruto calling her “Hinata-chan”, and not just “Hinata”?  
  
Sasuke also didn’t fail to notice the way Naruto was always so warm and encouraging towards Hinata, and the way his voice would actually become a bit quieter and gentler whenever he was speaking closely to her, at least whenever he wasn’t too excited or trying to talk to her from a distance. Sasuke wasn’t sure if that was intentional or just Naruto subconsciously reacting to her quieter, more timid nature.

* * *

Once the latest D-Rank mission was over, and Kakashi dismissed them all, Naruto and Hinata once again went off to train. The odd thing was, they actually seemed so eager to get started, despite the fact that it was… training. Sasuke just couldn’t help himself. Before he could tell himself no, he was trailing them to a sizable clearing towards the outskirts of town, into the more forested areas but still not technically considered leaving it. The clearing showed many obvious signs of recent wear and tear, signifying it was where they must’ve been doing the training for a pretty long time.  
  
At first, as Sasuke watched them begin, it didn’t seem like anything particularly special… Just stretches and warm-ups, the boring usual...  
  
And then he saw Naruto make a couple of clones, before he and Hinata each chose some of the tallest trees they could, and promptly ran up them at full force...  
  
They both fell, but not before actually getting impressively high and managing to briefly walk around on the trunks and even upside-down on larger branches for about a full minute. Naruto’s clones ended up catching them both quite easily. Hinata blushed a bit, but she actually seemed quite used to the routine, the Naruto clone gently putting her down so she could get right back to business.  
  
After more repeated attempts at tree climbing, attempts that somewhat disturbed Sasuke because they were actually _way better_ than he was as it even if they weren’t perfect, they decided to move on to jutsu practice…  
  
Sasuke expected to just see a bunch of basic academy techniques.  
  
He was wrong.  
  
Each of them began using their clones as sparring partners, seemingly with their jutsu being the main tactic used. Hinata was simultaneously throwing and dodging shuriken made of water, while Naruto was blasting out waves of wind and rushing down his clone with wind-assisted straight-line dashes.  
  
Sasuke’s consolation was at least that neither technique looked particularly impressive. Hinata’s rate of fire was pretty slow, and the shuriken were pretty weak and hand-thrown… Meanwhile, Naruto’s wind was still pretty clumsy and unrefined, and he was making himself trip and stumble a lot in the process of using it… Hinata would always casually help him up, easy as anything, still only blushing a little every time it happened. Sasuke felt odd, just thinking that she was the same girl who barely ever spoke in class. She could already touch Naruto so easily, whether he was instigating it or not?  
  
And then Sasuke saw them removing their bandages, and started fully realizing just what they were for, with all the odd symbols along their lengths…   
  
What Sasuke saw and heard next as he stealthily darted closer, so transfixed he just had to know more, truly threw him. It was as if all the world had tilted sideways. As if he were in a bizarre dream.  
  
“Alright, we still need to practice these next ones more as we normally are, so we can’t wear the training seal bandages for them…” Hinata said to Naruto.  
  
“Right! Let’s go!” Naruto replied.  
  
Sasuke felt something twist unpleasantly in the pit of his stomach when he fully realized that they’d been practicing the first elemental techniques while wearing bandages that actually _inhibited_ how well you could use ninjutsu… _fuck._  
  
_“I-I’m sure there’s nothing to feel jealous of or threatened by… This is no big deal, right? Besides, they’re your teammates! You should be glad for their progress!”_ came that inner voice, but Sasuke shoved it aside, still watching intently.  
  
Sasuke could scarcely believe that all of his earlier mental criticisms were just _irrelevant,_ and he didn’t even actually _know_ the full extent of how well those two earlier jutsu could be used…   
  
Naruto had a couple of clones stand next to him in a carefully spaced line, while Hinata had her clone watch everything carefully from off to the side, in a tree.  
  
But that wasn’t even the worst part…  
  
The worst part was…  
  
Hinata calling “Raiton: Thunderclap Arrow!”  
  
The _very worst part_ was…  
  
Fucking _Naruto_ calling “Katon: Ember Sea!”  
  
To be fair, both were clearly far from mastered. The Thunderclap Arrow was weak and inaccurate, completely missing its mark, and the chaotic shower of smoke, sparks, and embers emitted by Naruto and his clones was even less accurate, with many of the embers blowing away on a stiff breeze.  
  
Even at its best, Ember Sea was actually worse for raw offense than the Great Fireball, or Phoenix Sage Fire, since it was a whole lot of smaller, weaker, shorter-lived embers designed largely for getting enemies annoyed and distracted, and limiting their movements.  
  
Regardless, that wasn’t the point.  
  
The point was that Naruto and Hinata had at least _unlocked_ two elemental natures already… and to make it so much _worse,_ Naruto already had _his! He had fucking Katon!_  
  
“ _And I still only have one…”_ Sasuke bitterly thought.  
  
And to make matters worse… since Hinata’s clone was overseeing the training with the Byakugan…  
  
_She saw Sasuke, and decided to call out to him._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I’m sincerely sorry, but this story is decidedly not a fix-it when it comes to Kakashi. Or more precisely, it won’t be for a good while. His issues with teaching are coming back to bite him even sooner. I promise there’s a point to all of this, though.
> 
> I know Hinata’s elements are apparently Katon and Raiton according to databooks, but… I’m partly ignoring that because she just doesn’t seem like a “Fire” kind of girl. I would think that’s Sakura, but apparently she’s the one that’s got Suiton as one of her listings. Totally backwards, imo. In general I'm gonna ignore and change quite a few of the supposed elements people have.
> 
> I also made shadow clone training a thing way, way sooner, because I thought it was kinda stupid that it took years to figure out something that was technically possible all along and should’ve naturally made itself apparent over time. Having it take that long also made Naruto himself feel more stupid than usual for plot.
> 
> Now, the tradeoff is that the limit for this method is way lower, especially because Naruto is much weaker right now and it wouldn’t be fair to anyone else otherwise A low limit is all that’s really needed to help explain how Naruto catches up to others so quickly when he never had family to give him extra education, and always struggled with the Academy’s teaching style. Plus, a low limit also means he doesn’t really worry about the Nine Tails coming out.
> 
> On the other end of things, elemental jutsu aren’t quite as ridiculously tedious anymore, because Sasuke already got two releases at the age of twelve, so I thought it was stupid that Naruto didn’t even know his affinity until the age of 15. I also thought it was dumb that normal ninjas apparently need to spend six months just to do something as absurdly small as cut a leaf in half with a certain kind of chakra. So yeah, it's a little easier for people in general, but still takes a lot of work.


	3. Try Not To Assume

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sasuke gets roped into training, but not everything goes smoothly...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look who it is, everyone! The master of randomly disappearing for months without warning, BeetlesMcGee!
> 
> I have no real excuse besides getting distracted by stuff, and getting paranoid about the story and kind of avoiding actual work on it so that I don't ever have to face up to it potentially falling short. (Plus, Naruto canon became a total slog to get through) But hey, nothing ventured nothing gained, excessive perfectionism holds you back, yadda yadda.

Sasuke’s first instinct when Hinata called to him in that soft voice of hers was to run. Run away and deny having been there for any real reason at all. Just a meaningless passing whim. There’d be less to deal with that way.  
  
But he knew that would never pan out. So, doing his best to act natural, Sasuke came out of hiding and stood his ground… which just about _immediately_ had Naruto annoyed. _Of course._ _  
_ _  
_ _“_ What’re you doing here, nosy ass?! What, your own training not good enough for you? Gonna laugh at us ‘cause you’re like the only one Kakashi-sensei gives a crap about?” Naruto began to yell, an obvious sneer to his tone all the while.  
  
Sasuke sharply inhaled, biting back an immediate counter and going with something calmer.  
  
“It’s not my fault Kakashi-sensei focuses on me. I didn’t ask him to, nor did I ask him to ignore you two. Even so, he's not getting a teaching medal anytime soon…” Sasuke said with a grunt, crossing his arms as he looked away.  
  
Naruto actually looked somewhat thrown off by Sasuke’s response for a couple of seconds, but he managed to find fault with it before long regardless. “Figures you wouldn’t be satisfied, basically having him all to yourself while he just checks in on us like once a week… everything’s always about you, huh?!”  
  
Sasuke’s nails started to dig into his own crossed arms. He was literally _just_ trying to explain that he wasn’t trying to be arrogant or selfish, and Naruto basically ignored that!  
  
“Listen, _shit-for-brains_ , don’t fucking pin shit on me that isn’t true just because you’re jealous!” Sasuke replied… which only seemed to leave Naruto more scandalized and defensive than ever.

“Um, Sasuke-san…” Hinata quietly started, but she was quickly drowned out.  
  
“As if _I’d_ ever be jealous of some snotty, overrated bastard like you! What do I even have to be jealous of, huh?! I’ll have you know that I can do Fuuton _and_ Katon now! And you wanna know something even better? Fuuton is rare and special! All you have is your boring little Katon! Ha!” Naruto shot back with a smug sneer.  
  
“...Naruto-kun…” Hinata meekly began, frowning slightly, but Sasuke was quicker.  
  
“And I’m better at it than you’ll ever be! I’m better at Katon than you are at both of your elements combined, I bet! I saw your little sissy baby attempts at Ember Sea! It was nothing but a big, sparky shitshow! I could do better than that in my _sleep,_ you dead-last idiot!” Sasuke shot back.  
  
Internally, Sasuke hated that to defend himself he had to basically fuel Naruto’s staunch belief in insecurity-fueled hissy fits about Sasuke being some overconfident, arrogant bastard out to make everyone else feel bad… but Naruto basically gave him no choice but to stand up for himself, since Naruto had decided to get all up in arms about how he was the one who was “better” than Sasuke. Ironic, really. And kind of hypocritical.  
  
“Shut up! You’re just mad because you’re sooo used to being top dog, and now someone’s challenging you! I bet you’re the _real_ jealous one here!” Naruto shot back.  
  
Sasuke grit his teeth, because that wasn’t exactly entirely wrong. He did feel kind of threatened by their progress, but that wasn’t the _point._ He didn’t feel threatened by it because he fancied himself to be in danger of getting booted off of his throne of greatness, thronged by admirers left and right. That wasn’t what he was after. It was _convenient_ if people “liked” him, but other than that, what good was it when it was so hollow?  
  
As much as Sasuke hated to air out all of his business to some thickheaded, candy-corn looking ass bitch, he had to at least try to set the record straight.  
  
“Unlike _some people,_ specifically people who are _stupid, annoying, hypocritical,_ and have _shitty fashion choices,_ I might add... I don’t want to be strong for _attention_ or _prestige._ I don't want to be strong to make people feel bad about themselves, either. I just need to have revenge on a certain man, at any cost. And power is the only thing that will let me do that.” Sasuke explained with a sneer.

 _“I-I think that’s laying it on a little thick…”_ Inner Sasuke quietly tried, but Sasuke immediately disregarded it. If Naruto was going to be a fucking hardhead, and get pissy at him _literally just for showing up,_ then being harsh was the only option.

Hinata cringed at Sasuke's words despite them not even being directed at her. Naruto was silent for a moment, before suddenly charging at Sasuke with an indignant scream.   
  
Hinata held him back before he could get too far.  
  
Sasuke almost wanted to laugh at how she actually did a shockingly good job, apparently stronger than she looked as she handily, but unhappily dealt with Naruto’s flailing limbs and ineffectual swears… which meant Naruto still wasn’t really as impressive as he talked himself up to be.  
  
“Naruto-kun, p-please…” Hinata managed to get out, as she strained against him. She would normally be blushing, but there was nothing particularly rewarding about touching Naruto if it was to stop him from probably trying to rip someone's arms off. “F-fighting with him i-isn’t going to accomplish anything… Deep breaths, okay?” Hinata said quietly. Hopefully he listened, if he wore her down long enough he could definitely get her to let go.  
  
To Sasuke’s surprise, Naruto actually listened to her after a few seconds of hesitation, obediently taking a few breaths in and out as he slowly relaxed his posture, and she quietly comforted him before finally deeming him calm enough to let go of.  
  
“And… I think, um, I think… you should… apologize… to one another…” Hinata said, just loudly enough that Sasuke heard too.  
  
Naruto went from 0 back to 100 in no time. Someone might think she’d asked them both to saw off their legs, with all the back-and-forth and carrying on that ensued between Naruto and Sasuke.  
  
At least until Hinata started involuntarily tearing up a little under the pressure, and much to Sasuke’s surprise, Naruto _immediately_ shut up, like he had some secret off switch that'd been flipped. 

Hinata still at least had enough composure to speak, as choked up as it was. “Naruto-kun… Don’t you know how it feels, when you show up somewhere, and you haven’t even done anything yet, but someone immediately starts being rude just because you’re there?” Hinata asked softly.  
  
Sasuke was utterly perplexed by how Hinata had said it so softly, and yet Naruto looked like he’d accidentally kicked a puppy and then gotten punched right in the gut for it. His bottom lip was actually quivering a little as he looked down at the ground, idly kicking at the dirt a bit.  
  
The pure and utter _shame_ she’d managed to wring out of him with just those soft words was _unbelievable_.  
  
Just what kind of inexplicable _power_ did that shy little girl have over the loudest, most annoying dumbass in Konoha?  
  
Before Sasuke could ponder it too much longer, Hinata turned to address him next, eyes still slightly misty even as she tried to wipe them. “And Sasuke-san… I understand that you just wanted to stand up for yourself, b-but is insulting someone personally really a good way of f-furthering your arguments, or getting what you want?” Hinata quietly asked. "Getting along can only help us in the long run, i-if we have to be a team now…"  
  
Sasuke was so prepared to dismiss her… but the strangest thing was, Sasuke kind of felt what Naruto must have, but to a lesser extent.  
  
A strange, gripping wave of _guilt,_ the inexplicable feeling of letting someone down when they knew you were capable of better. He barely even _knew_ her well, but it was something about the _tone,_ the way she looked _so disappointed..._  
  
She didn’t yell. She didn’t even literally say “don’t do that” or “you shouldn’t have done that”. She just made you _reflect,_ and somehow, that was so much _worse._  
  
“I-I’m sorry, Sasuke…” Naruto said quietly, sounding slightly choked up. “I really did just see you and assume the worst for no real reason… I didn’t even bother to let you explain why you’re here…”  
  
“If… you want me to leave, I’ll do that…” Sasuke awkwardly said. “I’m… sorry,” he forced out, if only because Hinata was still giving him that damnable _look_. “I didn’t mean to just… show up where I’m not wanted…” he continued, figuring that was probably the reason for Naruto’s outburst.  
  
“No, I mean, it’s… that’s not really fair, dattebayo. It’s not like we ever actually told you that you couldn’t come. And even if we did, that would be kinda mean. So, like… as a serious question, why are you here?” Naruto asked.  
  
“I was... curious. I felt like you guys were hiding things from me, and doing all this mysterious stuff without me, and… I guess… I really _was_ maybe a little jealous. And it made me kind of… I don’t know, like you were plotting against me, somehow. So, I _may_ have started feeling sort of paranoid and decided to come see what you’re up to,” Sasuke painstakingly explained, doing his best to be honest without being _too_ vulnerable.  
  
Naruto seemed somewhat vindictively pleased by the admissions of jealousy and paranoia, flashing a cheeky grin that got Sasuke briefly pissed all over again, but Hinata just gave Naruto a _Look_ that seemed to shut him down again in no time.  
  
“Teammates should be able to be honest about how they feel with each other, without judgment, don’t you think, Naruto-kun?” Hinata softly asked.  
  
“Y-yeah,” Naruto replied, that look of quiet shame briefly returning.  
  
Sasuke once again silently reeled at how she managed to do that, cutting right to Naruto’s heart so easily. If the tone were just a bit different, it would probably come off as passive-aggressive, but somehow she managed.  
  
Before long, it was Hinata who spoke up next.  
  
“Well, um, we’re just doing some training together… did you want to join, Sasuke-san?”  
  
“...Fine, whatever,” Sasuke replied, a bit awkwardly. It would at least let him learn more about how exactly they’d already made as much progress as they did.  
  
“Is that okay with you, Naruto-kun?” Hinata asked, turning briefly to Naruto.  
  
“Yeah… I guess we have technically been a team for a month now… I might as well start acting like it,” Naruto said.  
  
“I’m glad to hear that, Naruto-kun! You’ve really come a long way! Now maybe Sasuke-san will be able to see that too!” Hinata said, with a sincere warmth that actually managed to make Naruto blush slightly, grinning and preening a bit under her praise.  
  
“Y-you think so?” Naruto replied, grinning like a dope.  
  
Sasuke just turned away a bit, almost feeling secondhand embarrassment over what he was seeing. Naruto’s emotions would swing so wildly depending on what she said to him, he almost reminded Sasuke of a little puppy. Whining and pouting when his master was disappointed with him, wagging his tail when his master was pleased with him.  
  
_“When he’s like this, there’s another way he’s kinda like a puppy, too…”_ Inner Sasuke supplied, completely unprompted.  
  
Sasuke immediately shut that thought down and completed it with different comparisons. _Surely,_ what he meant was that Naruto was full of drool, or that he was babyish and helpless, or that he had smelly dog breath, or that he only had a dog’s intelligence or something! _Surely,_ those were the _only_ possible things he could’ve meant when he’d thought that!  
  
Putting it out of mind completely, Sasuke just focused on the fact that he had training to do, if he didn’t want to fall behind without even realizing it.

* * *

As time passed, Sasuke’s thoughts on the situation steadily evolved.  
  
As much as Sasuke hated to admit it… the others seemed like they knew what they were doing, with the training schedule. Honestly, they put more thought into it than Kakashi-sensei. And Sasuke himself, as much as Sasuke hated to admit that. Apparently, they’d gone through a lot of research and consultation with Iruka-sensei to puzzle it all out. It wasn’t just some baby warmups the whole way through, it was actually _strenuous, exhaustive_ training _._ _  
_ _  
_ What Sasuke was probably least willing to admit was that with Hinata around, Naruto was… actually, not all that bad. He was still annoying sometimes, but he always apologized… and Sasuke couldn’t really claim that Naruto would be holding him back, since he also had to admit Naruto wasn’t actually as stupid or untalented as he thought. It seemed like having someone around who was willing to be patient with him and explain everything made a huge difference.  
  
Hinata was… a strange case. She had a quiet authority, like she was almost their leader but not quite… the odd thing was, she didn’t even seem to _realize_ that she did. She didn’t exactly boss them around, it was just that she seemed to be able to exercise her influence through the fact that she held a strangely powerful sway over Naruto, whose will would probably be most forceful otherwise… and in turn, Sasuke couldn’t really call himself ‘dominant’ when she didn’t really give him any reasons to actively oppose her anyway. She wasn’t argumentative or forceful, she let Sasuke make his own decisions too, and all of her suggestions were generally pretty sound, so Sasuke usually found himself content to just stay quiet and go along with it.   
  
Hinata didn’t even _have_ to try being bossy if Naruto would be the one asking her for advice and then immediately following most of her suggestions anyway. His general way of speaking to her was notably somewhat less crude and brash than usual, everything softened, all the sharp edges blunted and rounded. Besides that, Naruto seemed to have a nigh-pathological aversion to hurting her feelings. He wouldn’t necessarily go easy on her in practice sparring, or withhold honest opinions, but it was only because she specifically told him not to.  
  
Meanwhile, Sasuke was simply left to wonder at what exactly they’d gone through to make Naruto already treat Hinata like such a big deal after only a few weeks. Personally, he wasn’t entirely sold… although he could admit his reasons were a little petty and unfair. A special dojutsu she could already use, living parents and relatives, no inescapable connection to a mass-murdering, village-betraying brother, and a clan that was held in high regard rather than a clan that seemed to make everyone uncomfortable to even speak about…  
  
Sasuke could recognize that many of the reasons he quietly envied Hinata weren’t even her fault, that was just how she happened to have been born… but it was enviable regardless.  
  
From Sasuke’s perspective, he also just couldn’t properly understand Hinata’s excessive meekness or modesty. All he saw was a girl he’d previously known next to nothing about, training and studying for hours a day, every day… on top of apparently having the patience and intelligence to help a ninja as supposedly unsalvageable as Naruto, as well as learn two different nature releases, get Kakashi’s bells by herself, and be able to make a shadow clone.

At best, he thought her soft, unconfident attitude was kind of weird, unfounded, and ridiculous. At worst, he thought it was some elaborate ploy to garner pity and fish for compliments. After all, she did get the bells by getting Kakashi to feel sorry for her and let his guard down. Maybe she had a manipulative side she just hid with her meek demeanor.  
  
_“You know, judging her like this is really unfair… She seems nice,”_ Inner Sasuke would pipe up, every now and again. Sasuke always told him to shut up.  
  
Time passed smoothly enough, the three of them steadily making more and more progress. After only about two weeks, Sasuke was pretty much caught up, much to Naruto’s irritation. Not only was he naturally talented, he already had one nature release, so he essentially only had half the work to do. He also had the good fortune of his other affinity being Lightning, so Hinata could help him. (and was willing to, as much as it annoyed Naruto)  
  
Regardless of Hinata’s ability to keep the peace, it wasn’t perfect. There was still an undercurrent of resentment steadily building between Sasuke and Naruto, both feeling the other’s progress was ‘unfair’ in some way.  
  
On one hand, Sasuke resented Naruto’s ability to use shadow clones so freely in training, to the extent he pettily refused to learn it himself because it felt too much like ‘stooping to his level’. At least Hinata still dealt with sensible chakra limitations, so she didn’t annoy him as much when she did it, but Naruto had a tendency to brag about his unfair advantage.  
  
On the other hand, Naruto resented Sasuke for being both gifted and driven enough to catch up so easily, even without the technique.  
  
Meanwhile, Hinata was just saddened by the fact that they were still arguing even when she tried to calm them down… But she had actually managed to hit upon another aspect of shadow cloning to make it more compatible with her lesser chakra reserves… The ability to begin to ‘specialize’ or ‘optimize’ clones to different needs.  
  
Simply getting a clone to take a smaller fraction of chakra than usual was pretty easy for Hinata to figure out, but only of limited use by itself. If a clone with less initial chakra still burned the same amount of chakra over time, then there was often no point in it. It was only really useful for shorter tasks, not the kinds of things that needed to be sustained… especially if it was a task where each clone needed to be actively using more chakra than usual, making the rate they burned it over time even higher.  
  
So, the real goal was to reduce a clone’s chakra usage over time, not just at the time it was formed.  
  
After two weeks, Hinata had managed two different optimization methods… “Small” and “Drone”  
  
Small clones were the simpler option by far, they only took about two days for Hinata to figure out. The only real hurdle encountered was that their size decrease seemed to be limited in how dramatic it could be without too many issues in function or stability, so they were typically about half her height. Regardless of that limitation, compressing their size did quite a lot to increase how long they could last in exchange for their strength and speed.  
  
As such, small clones were typically used solely for their advisory and study capabilities, as their Byakugan still worked fine. Using them was also better for leaving enough chakra for a different, more broadly useful clone.  
  
Meanwhile, “drone” style clones were a bit more involved when it came to getting them right, and Hinata ended up dumping a lot more time into them, but their overall point was still pretty simple. Hinata had noted that sometimes, she didn’t really _need_ a clone to be just as flexible and capable as her in every regard. Sometimes, it just needed to continually do something in one specific area.  
  
And so, that was a drone’s purpose. They saved significant chakra by greatly limiting their skillset and their independent thought, but it was a double-edged sword. They were basically just tools, and their lack of true thought made them useless for training when left alone. They had no initiative, and no self-reflection or inherent learning ability. So, to solve the issue, Hinata also needed to increase the strength and transfer rate of her chakra’s “links” to them as they worked.  
  
In doing so, the learning process was altered a bit, making it so that Hinata was continually sending them orders and receiving information from what they did in turn, rather than waiting for the information upon their dispersal. However, such a process involved more mental strain, and limited the distance she could be from the clones significantly. In any other situation besides a long period of repetitive training tasks, normal clones were better in all regards.  
  
Still, the benefit was that Hinata could sustain any combination of three optimized clones… or one optimized clone and one normal one.  
  
It was actually a pretty significant workaround, as much as it didn’t seem that impressive in the face of Naruto having the ability to make clones with so much less effort. To even get to two normal clones of the same chakra level as a single clone would require Hinata to improve her chakra reserves by 50%... something that would probably take several months. There was a modest boost to the speed of increase because Hinata was still growing and not in her physical prime yet, but even that only went so far. You couldn’t just go inflating your chakra supply too easily. Every method to do so was either short-lived, highly unsafe, or both.   
  
Still, chakra did at least generally tend to increase somewhat proportionately to what you had. If there were a genin who started with 100 ‘chakra points’, then reached 150 ‘points’ in six months, they'd reach 225 six months after that, not 200. Another 50% increase, not another flat 50 point increase. Unfortunately, depending mostly on someone’s genes, age, and health, there would come a point of slowly diminishing returns… and people’s lives weren’t just perfect mathematical vacuums regardless. Theory was far different from practice.

If the person who started with 100 as a kid trained so hard as to eventually reach 5,000, their progress could begin to slow before even the 1,000 mark. By time they were at 5,000, the following six months of effort could very well yield only a miniscule boost… if they weren’t already old or inactive enough that their amount would begin to decline instead. Someone could also still struggle with temporary plateaus where they could hardly increase their reserves for a while. Another person could even have significantly different rates of progress, plateaus, and decline despite very similar training.  
  
People below the age of about twenty were even harder to truly pin down, as they could also be “late” or “early” bloomers in terms of chakra reserves. Not only that, but their reserves could suddenly undergo “growth spurt” periods that could be quite incongruous with their typical rates of progress, despite their training and lifestyle not changing enough to justify it otherwise. There could be cases of children with poor reserves suddenly surpassing their peers in that regard even if those peers put in a good effort of their own.  
  
So, thinking strictly in terms of ‘points’ was only really good on paper, or as a rough estimate. Chakra in practice was too inconsistent for that, since it could also be influenced to fluctuate more by various jutsu, drugs, nutrition, emotional states, and miscellaneous other methodology, the validity of which could vary. Some even claimed things like blood type, sexual promiscuity, lunar phases, and planetary alignments somehow had something to do with it. 

Regardless, the important thing was just that chakra levels were far from the be-all-end-all. Even if they were, any real battle would not be someone just using up chakra at a perfect, predictable rate. The body was continuously producing and using chakra at the same time. Not only that, but someone’s level of chakra control wasn’t a constant given either. It was fully possible for there to be moments of passion, determination, or intense concentration that could cause a momentary spike in chakra supply and control. On the flipside, there could be a harsh injury or moment of emotional instability causing an unusually rapid decline, or a deterioration in control.  
  
Hinata also figured the logic behind how Naruto’s chakra would progress was probably kind of different, as he had more than enough to start with… and a second source, to boot. Unfortunately, she didn't have any more detailed idea of how _exactly_ it would be different.  
  
Doubly unfortunate, Hinata’s findings weren’t really of immediate help to Naruto. His issue was the mental strain of clones, not their chakra expenses… but it still had other implications for him in the future, if he could find specializations not focused on training. 

Meanwhile, Sasuke couldn’t help but also feel insecurely frustrated by how he and Hinata seemed to have talent with jutsu in different ways.  
  
Sasuke’s talent was more of an instinctive one, an ease of grasping and executing. (Not that it entirely satisfied him when _that person_ used to be much better than him in that regard)  
  
Hinata’s was more about the _theory,_ the _components_ and _structures._ Sasuke tended to just sort of be able to latch onto the big picture, and just sort of _do_ things, when he gave enough effort. He could understand dense chunks of information, but also get by on brief explanations and some hands-on practice and intuition. Hinata was slower, but she was more _thorough,_ her understanding was heavy with conscious reflection and experimentation.  
  
Her Byakugan could see chakra, its flow, and its patterns, in ways completely lost on Sasuke or Naruto. There was a whole dimension of it that she could analyze and think about on a more intimate level than either of them.  
  
There were things even Sasuke just wouldn’t have realized without her help, as much as he didn’t want to admit it. In only two weeks, a series of observations and just a few timid suggestions from her had diversified the Great Fireball jutsu. It’d originally been lacking in speed, only had so much range, and its usefulness really suffered if Sasuke couldn’t get a direct hit… so what’d ended up happening was that he’d learned to project it more like a condensed missile. It started much smaller and faster, covering more ground and then exploding into the typical large fireball the jutsu was known for, also causing more damage as a result. The incredible thing was, it barely required any more chakra than normal. Its energy was just being used more economically.  
  
Sasuke also learned Thunderclap Arrow, but a difference had already developed between his and Hinata’s typical styles. He preferred to hit hard and fast, slinging them with impressive power and fast enough that they were still hard to dodge. But meanwhile, Hinata had actually found a way to skip out on half the hand signs and produce a weaker, but far more conservative and stealthy version. Apparently, hers were usually to _briefly stun_ targets, to give her a chance to close the distance and finish the job with her taijutsu. With that in mind, she didn’t really typically _need_ them to be large and destructive like Sasuke’s.

Saauke could hardly believe it. They were told over and over not to try condensing or substituting hand-signs until they were at least Chuunin. How did some coward like her already figure it out without consequence? Sure, she said that was just a "general guideline for people's safety" and that she'd "already seen Neji nii-san do it," but still. That didn't mean you could just up and decide to do it. To Sasuke, it definitely poked another big hole in her whole "woe is me, I'm shy and pathetic" act.  
  
Hinata had also already learned how to have her water shurikens hold a modest charge. While she still needed to throw them manually, she could also freely choose what size they were, throw them much more rapidly than before, and get them to arc, boomerang, or zig-zag in unnatural ways once thrown.  
  
Ultimately, the technique still wasn’t truly _powerful_ even with two elements being used in succession. There was only so much lightning chakra Hinata was comfortably able to add, but the draw of it was that it was once again quiet and low on energy usage. It was really just another tactic to steadily break an opponent’s guard and distract them, stun them, or whittle them down from a distance, making it easier to move in with taijutsu for the true finishing blow. It also helped make sure that they wouldn’t be rewarded too much by choosing to move away from her.  
  
Honestly, with how the Byakugan naturally lent itself to exceptional accuracy in so many different conditions, Sasuke was surprised that the Hyuuga were generally so tightly focused on their taijutsu. 

Naruto was always more than happy to praise everything Hinata did, but always turned his nose up at whatever Sasuke did, much to the latter’s irritation. Sasuke still didn’t get it. _What_ exactly did Naruto find so special and wonderful about Hinata?! Constantly selling yourself short was hardly anything special!

* * *

Things all came to a head near the end of the two week period, because Sasuke had moved on from improving Great Fireball and learning Thunderclap Arrow to even start learning the “Fire Rush” technique, which involved the user emitting focused jets of flame from the hands and feet to speed themselves up… It seemed to go well with how his style already seemed to lean towards pure speed and power, aiming to finish fights quickly at the cost of how long he could last.  
  
The problem wasn’t so much Sasuke’s skill with the technique… He could only use it in brief, straight-line bursts, and still had a long way to go. The problem was that Naruto was struggling far more with the technique… After all, it wasn’t just flame emission, it required a lot of timing, focus, control, and good reflexes. It was a challenge just to delay the ignition of the chakra jet from your feet enough to not set your shoes on fire, so they’d had to invest in some specialized flame-resistant lacquer for them.  
  
Such things tended to come quickly and instinctively to Sasuke, although he still put his fair share of hard work in, and Uchiha seemed to naturally have a greater talent for reflexes anyway to support their Sharingan.   
  
Meanwhile, Naruto kept tripping himself, slightly burning himself and his clothes, or starting way too many fires. Sasuke already proved able to exert enough control to suppress and extinguish the modest fires he started, while also being able to time and temper the flames to not ignite things too easily. The idea was that they’d escape from the feet only as very brief, high-pressure but short jets while a foot was well off the ground, preventing much from being able to catch on fire to start with.  
  
Honestly, Naruto didn’t really _need_ the technique with Gale Palm already in his arsenal. Besides that, it was technically possible to emulate with just non-elemental chakra too. The thing was just that when it was Katon, its great temperatures allowed it to expand more vigorously, and therefore generate more propulsion with less chakra. Despite all of that, it seemed to be more about the principle of the thing to Naruto… the speed boosts conveyed by Gale Palm had made him feel special for a brief while, but Sasuke had already found a way to challenge and undermine that feeling in his own way.   
  
Hinata had been encouraging and comforting Naruto a lot, but he was far from the most patient person in the world… so it was only reasonable that he’d get snippy one day, especially because it was after training, when he was always tired and a bit irritable. It was even worse than usual, since he’d gotten stubborn and insecure about his progress in the face of Sasuke, which led to him enacting eight different attempts to talk Hinata into letting him try to attempt using seven training clones instead of five, which she finally agreed to. She did at least manage to talk him down to seven when he originally wanted to move up to ten.  
  
The problem wasn’t that it didn’t work, the problem was the aftermath. Naruto’s head was throbbing something fierce, he was clumsy and continually complaining of dizziness, and was also apparently starving and yet feeling too nauseous to really want to eat.  
  
Hinata had to hold him up just so he could walk home, which on one hand had her internally going wild… she just really wished it weren’t only because Naruto wasn’t feeling well. It’d also be nice if he’d listened to her and not pushed himself too hard…  
  
With a grunt of frustration, Naruto just couldn’t hold back any longer. The hunger and overexertion had left him grumpy. “You think you’re so great, huh bastard…” Naruto managed to get out, glaring at Sasuke as he made to leave the training grounds with them.  
  
“What? What’d I do this time?!” Sasuke snapped back, honestly at a loss. He’d thought he’d done a good job being civil and minding his business that day. They hadn’t had any real fights or arguments, they’d just glared at each other sometimes, had a fair and restrained spar, and kept it at that.  
  
“You think you have it sooo easy, walking outta here without needing to use any shadow clones and still picking up new jutsus and shit left and right!” Naruto cried.  
  
Sasuke just grunted, scowling at Naruto. “Me?! You’re the one who has it easy with those things! You just bust them out like it’s nothing and go to town! It’s not my fault you’re finally facing some consequences for taking the easy way out!”  
  
Hinata stiffened, not liking where the whole conversation was going. “You guys…” she tried, but Sasuke and Naruto were already getting so worked up she was easy to ignore. Naruto even forced himself to stand on his own just to try and look more impressive.  
  
“What the fuck do you _mean_ , easy way out?! I _have_ to use ‘em just to keep up with you, and so does Hinata-chan! And it’s not like there are no downsides, either! It’s not our fault you got born all special so that you don’t have to fall back on ‘em!” Naruto cried, his voice getting louder by the moment.  
  
“It’s not my fault either! It’s not like all this stuff is effortless for me! I don’t just sit around all day and suddenly know how to do it! You’ve _seen_ me training with you all this time!” Sasuke yelled back.  
  
“Yeah, and I’m saying I hate how you still just breeze through it! Even if you are working hard, it’s still way less than almost anyone else would need to, dattebayo!” Naruto cried.  
  
“Listen, dumbass. I’m getting fucking _sick_ of your grumpy little pity parties. _When_ are you going to get over me having 'talent' and stop _blaming_ me for it, as if I personally _steal_ my skill from you or something? I’m not even _that_ great, okay?! _There_ , is _that_ what you want to hear me say?! That I’m not that great?! You want me to grovel to you just because you secretly must have terrible self esteem from nobody liking you?! Fuck off! I’ve been _trying_ to be modest! Shit, I wouldn’t have made half of this progress without Hinata around!” Sasuke griped.  
  
“Well, well, maybe you don’t _need_ to be around Hinata-chan so much anyway! You don’t even like her that much, so it’s kinda like you’re using her, isn’t it?!” Naruto shot back. There was a tinge of something… _different_ in his tone, since the subject had become Hinata. It was sharper, more bitter, and there was a shift in the way he glared at Sasuke, the way he held himself. Like he was suddenly more ready to fight, just because the subject was her.  
  
“We’re on the same team, dipshit! This is what we’re _supposed_ to be doing! It’s not my fault you want your little girlfriend to yourself!” Sasuke shot back.  
  
Naruto gaped like a fish at that, suddenly quieter for a moment. His mouth moved wordlessly as he stepped back slightly, apparently having been knocked off of his rhythm by the remark. Meanwhile, Hinata was blushing redder than a tomato. Even if she wanted to chime in, she was nowhere near collected enough to manage after an accusation like that. 

“She’s not my girlfriend, dattebayo! It’s not like that! I’m just saying! I’m her friend and you’re not! I should get more time with her than you, but you mooch off of her in training all day!” Naruto replied, back up to full volume in no time.  
  
“Hinata doesn’t _belong_ to you! Or me, if you think that’s what I’m trying to say! She’s a person, not some little pet or toy! I can train with her if I want! She doesn’t seem to mind, does she?!” Sasuke asked.  
  
“W-well… Tell him, Hinata-chan!” Naruto said, suddenly turning to face her. “Tell him you like being around me more! Tell him you wanna hang out more with just me like we used to! It’s true, isn’t it?!”  
  
Hinata froze, frantically trying to think of what to do. The simple answer was that it was true. She did want to be alone with Naruto more. But it seemed rude to just _say_ that in front of Sasuke. He was right too, he was their team member and it should’ve been fine if he wanted to train with Hinata. She just had to find some way to say it all that wouldn’t be too hurtful to either of them.  
  
“I think… y-you both have a point… I really enjoy my time with Naruto-kun, but… helping Sasuke-san is also nice. In the end, i-it will make us stronger as a whole, won’t it? You don’t get weaker just because Sasuke-san is getting stronger, Naruto-kun.” Hinata tried to explain.  
  
Sasuke gave a satisfied smirk, but Naruto still didn’t seem placated.  
  
“Y-yeah, but… Sasuke can’t… he doesn’t… he isn’t…” Naruto tried, seeming to struggle with the words… The more Hinata watched, the more it seemed like he knew what he wanted to say, he just wasn’t comfortable saying it. The more he tried, the more an odd whine seemed to edge into his tone. Finally, Naruto just seemed to give up with a frustrated huff, suddenly grabbing Hinata by the wrist and roughly tugging her away with haste.  
  
“N-Naruto-kun?!” Hinata cried, as Naruto almost fell flat on his face in the process, but still refused to stop tugging. “Naruto-kun, what’s wrong?”  
  
“It’s not important! I just don’t wanna be around him right now!” Naruto cried.  
  
“Naruto-kun… you can tell me, can’t you?” Hinata asked. “If you don’t… I can guess,” Hinata continued. 

“It’s dumb, and it makes me sound like a baby,” Naruto replied huffily.  
  
“I won’t laugh…” Hinata responded sincerely.

Naruto waited until they were well away from Sasuke and there was no sign of him following them before finally relenting. He stopped beneath the shade of a large tree and took a deep breath, seeming to be steeling himself.  
  
“Okay… So, to be honest, the thing is… I don’t like it when you and Sasuke are around each other,” Naruto finally admitted. His expression was almost like he was bracing for impact.  
  
“Oh... is it… is it because you’re jealous of him? There's no shame in that,” Hinata gently tried, only to get a reaction like she stuck a hot poker in Naruto’s rear.  
  
“N-no!” Naruto protested, sharply but unconvincingly. “It’s just… I don’t think it’s good for you to be around him too much! It might be bad news, dattebayo!”  
  
“Because you’re concerned that I’ll end up liking him more than you?” Hinata worriedly asked.  
  
“Ye- I mean, no, of course not!” Naruto rather pathetically lied. “The future Hokage would never worry about something dumb like that!” 

“Well… for clarity’s sake… I-I um… I… I do like being around you the most, Naruto-kun…” Hinata responded. Naruto’s eyes widened in a way that wouldn’t particularly convince anyone that Hinata’s guesses were anything less than absolutely correct.  
  
“You do?!” Naruto asked, incredulous. Hinata didn’t entirely realize that it was literally the first time he’d ever heard anyone say anything like that to him in his life. Before she knew it, he was hugging her like his life depended on it. “Yes! I’m so glad! It’s just, for my whole entire life, everyone's always liked that damn Sasuke more! No matter what, no matter who it is!" Naruto cried.

Hinata was simultaneously elated and horribly conflicted.

On one hand: _"Yes! Yes! Naruto-kun likes me so much he got_ **_jealous_ ** _over me! He wanted to fight over me!_ **_Me!_ ** _That must mean I’m important! It means he thinks I’m special!"_

On the other hand: _"Well… I still don't think he's jealous in a romance kind of way, it's probably just because we're friends… Also, being happy about this makes me a bad person, doesn't it? We're all supposed to be a team… and we should all try to be friends… and Sasuke-san should at least be able to be around me sometimes if he wants… I'm being really selfish..."_

On the other, other hand _: "Pfft, who cares about Sasuke_ **_or_ ** _Kakashi?! They're both so distant, and they can be so mean! It's like Father all over again! They really call themselves a teammate and a teacher?! As if! The world would be better if it could just be Naruto-kun and I!"_

Hinata absolutely terrified herself with that third string of thought. Well, not so much with the things about Kakashi. She mainly just didn't want _him_ to know she thought that way. But Sasuke… it felt incredibly unfair to have thoughts like that about him. It was no secret that he was the last Uchiha in the village. He was "popular", but Hinata noticed the way he didn't have _friends._ The way that when she thought about it, he wasn't outwardly mean to Naruto unless he was trying to defend himself. Overall, it really did seem like he'd been at least _trying_ not to argue anymore.

"If I'm being honest… I… actually don't care much for Sasuke-san either… He always looks kind of mad, he's scary, he’s too serious and intense, and I get paranoid because I never know what he's thinking… all in all, he reminds me a little of Neji nii-san and Father, which makes it even worse. But I feel like it's in our best interest to change how we feel, if we want to be a good team. Besides that, I think it's kind of unfair to be so hard on him," Hinata said. "Both of you have been through a lot of difficult things… And when do you ever see Sasuke-san with actual friends and not just girls who think he's cool?"

"Doesn't that just make him ungrateful, then?! All those people who _want_ to talk to him and he just doesn't do it!" Naruto cried.

"I mean… do they want to talk to him in ways he would actually _enjoy,_ though? Or is it just trying to force him on dates and doing activities he might not even care about?" Hinata asked. "Not all attention is good attention…"

That seemed to genuinely perplex Naruto, to the point he actually had to quietly repeat the last part to himself.

"It sounds like common sense when you say it like that, so this is gonna sound dumb, but… I didn't think of it like that. I just kinda assumed that if a bunch of girls wanna talk to you it must be a good thing," Naruto replied.  
  
“That's not dumb. I can see why you'd think that. But, Naruto-kun… think of Sasuke-san… a bit like…” Hinata paused, trying to come up with an analogy. “A stray cat. One that’s been hurt, and hasn’t been given many reasons to trust people.”  
  
“Huh? How is Sasuke anything like a cat?” Naruto replied, crossing his arms as his face screwed up in thought.  
  
“Comes off as a cold, stand-offish, loner, and automatically gives you that feeling that he thinks he's better than you?” Hinata tried. “Has mood swings that can be kind of hard to predict?”  
  
Naruto just stared at her in shock for a moment, reeling at how he’d never seen it that way before. “Huh. Actually, yeah, I get it now…” Naruto said. “That’s 100% Sasuke!”  
  
“Yes. But what I’m trying to say is, that’s just what’s on the surface. Cats can be really nice too, when they want. They don’t do what they do for no reason. In that sense, people are a little similar.” Hinata said. “What usually happens if you just try to go up to a stray cat if it doesn’t like people?” Hinata asked.  
  
“...It gets annoyed and probably just runs away,” Naruto responded, starting to look like something was dawning on him.  
  
“And what happens if it can’t get away?” Hinata continued. “What if, for whatever reason, it feels like it has to defend itself?”  
  
“...It’ll just start scratching and biting!” Naruto replied.  
  
“Right. And does Sasuke-san really go out of his way to bother or bully you whenever there’s no reason he needs to be around you?” Hinata asked.  
  
“...Come to think of it, not really,” Naruto replied. "He's only been coming around to train and do missions, and that's it…"  
  
“Right. So, if you want a cat’s respect, the best option isn’t to try to prove you’re strongest. That just makes it get angrier and more defensive. You have to actually try to win it over.”  
  
“But… this is Sasuke, and he’s still not literally a cat, even if he’s kind of like one. How am I even supposed to do that?! And I still want Sasuke to see that I’m strong, so how do I do that?” Naruto asked.  
  
“I don’t exactly think you have to stop trying to be his rival completely… Sasuke-san really seems to appreciate and value strength. It’s just… not ideal to try and do it to make him feel bad, or to make yourself look good. Like, think back to class. If you were to fail a test, but someone else gets an A, that might make you feel a little jealous, right?”  
  
“Right,” Naruto replied.  
  
“But, you’re probably going to get over it pretty fast, especially if they’re humble about it. Now imagine if they not only get an A, but then they call you an idiot and start boasting… that’s much different, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, then I’d actually want to beat their ass!” Naruto responded.  
  
“Exactly. So that’s why it’s not in our best interest to be boastful. That probably just makes Sasuke-san start to feel angry and defensive, and then he’ll lash out, and then you’ll be angry too, and it’ll just keep going back and forth like that. We have to prove we’re with him, not against him… and that will take time. You can’t rush a cat into acknowledging you, just like you can’t with a person. In the end, how he feels about us is still his decision.”

“I feel like I understand a little better now…” Naruto said. "Thanks! You're really smart, Hinata-chan!" 

Hinata merely stammered something unintelligible in response, doing her best not to pass out at the compliment. She felt like she was slowly getting more 'resistant' to handling the sheer force of her crush, but she clearly still had a long way to go.  
  
The fact that Naruto had to run over to a bush to vomit just a couple of minutes later wasn’t so great, but Hinata was at least secretly glad she’d been able to direct him to a bush that was specifically in the yard of a lady that had called him an “orange-crusted creep” last week. Small victories.  
  
Plus, Hinata got to help him walk home, which meant they could be in really, really close proximity that made her whole body tingle with warmth. Then, once they were there, she could tend to him and spoil him a bit, which was undoubtedly her favorite part. There was just no bigger rush of euphoria in the world than Naruto telling her that her homemade ramen was good, and it was less terrifying to be affectionate with him in a private space. She may or may not have gone out on a limb and unnecessarily decided to check his temperature by putting their foreheads together like she’d seen in a play once. She may or may not have gotten so flustered and red-faced from it that Naruto ended up asking if she was the feverish one.  
  
The sudden bit of bravery passed as soon as it came, and Hinata resolved to go back to being more reserved about how she acted. Besides the fact that she might expose her own feelings before she was ready, it just felt weird of her to use Naruto not feeling well as an opportunity to try and get too… _amorous_ with him. To be fair, it wasn’t premeditated or anything, it was more that she just couldn’t help but be overwhelmed with tender fondness in Naruto’s presence. It wasn’t her fault that he was always so cute that she just kept wanting to ruffle his hair and cuddle him… and stare into those big, pretty blue eyes… and maybe even write poetry about him... and let him take naps on her lap, and brush her hair, and hold her hand, and look at her all he wanted... But still, she was aware that there was a line between being bold and being creepy.

* * *

For another couple of weeks after that, things were pretty good. The training was still long and exhausting, Kakashi was still allergic to being on time and still half-assing the hell out of everything, and the missions were still basically tedious, annoying chores, but at least they all felt like they were still making progress. Naruto and Sasuke still fought, but it was less common and a lot less intense. Once, Sasuke even managed to force out a compliment to Naruto's improvements in Katon, even though it looked like it was killing him. In turn, Naruto even sought out Sasuke's help with training a couple of times, even though such a thing also looked like it was positively destroying him inside.  
  
The only downside, at least for Hinata and Sasuke, was that a certain fan of Sasuke’s had discovered Team 7’s training grounds… and that ‘certain fan’ was Sakura.  
  
More broadly, Team 8 in general, but Sakura was clearly the most invested in bugging them while Kiba and Shino just seemed to begrudgingly tag along or show up whenever it turned out Sakura was actually supposed to be doing something else besides fawning.  
  
Hinata didn’t mind any of them showing up at first, not even when Naruto immediately left her side to greet Sakura with such a giddy tone that Hinata briefly felt almost like someone had just doused her with cold water. It was kind of unpleasant, but the fact that Naruto was into Sakura was something she was already well aware of and not usually too bothered by.  
  
No, what really set her on edge, and had her mouth pressed into the thinnest, fakest smile imaginable, was Sakura’s response.  
  
She just called him a moron and shoved him out of the way.  
  
The feeling of being doused in cold water was immediately replaced with something like a surge of cold fire and thunder through her whole body, her fists balling up involuntarily as something fierce and biting began to pool in her stomach and crawl up her throat, sending a rushing current through her whole body… But she held it back, instead opting to see if Naruto was okay.  
  
Somehow, after acting dejected for a moment, Naruto just brushed it off with ease. He whispered to Hinata almost conspiratorially, as if it were just some fun little game they were all playing. “Sakura-chan just plays hard to get, ya know?” Naruto told her, with a broad smirk.  
  
“I-I see,” Hinata said, her mouth still pressed into the same strained, toothless little smile. She felt her left eye twitch, but Naruto didn't seem to notice.  
  
Hinata was standing _right there,_ gently asking if Naruto was okay, ready to do _anything_ for him, and there he was, right in front of her, fawning over some rude, impudent girl who was clearly only looking to suck Sasuke’s toes like the unwanted, irrelevant, self-important little leech she truly-  
  
Hinata took a deep breath, guilt surging within her as she willed the wave of hostility away and tried to justify what she’d just seen in her head. It’d be fine! Really! Sakura-chan was probably just in a bad mood that time! Naruto-kun probably just took her off guard and she reacted poorly! Yup! There was no reason to get so upset over-  
  
Except then Sakura came back almost every day, and every time she did, something roughly along the same lines would happen. Naruto would try to talk to her, Sakura would steadfastly be ruder than necessary and clearly just there for Sasuke.  
  
Sasuke, meanwhile, basically only interacted with her at a bare minimum. It made Hinata a tiny bit more fond of him to see how callously all of Sakura’s passes at him were shut down, although she was simultaneously feeling horribly guilty that she was starting to like someone more _just because_ they were indifferently shutting down someone she didn’t like. Especially when Sakura had never done anything wrong to her directly.  
  
It got to the point where the storm that seemed to silently brew within Hinata, its lightning practically tickling the underside of her skin, finally fizzled out. She just felt… cold. Numb. Ready to face yet another hard truth of her life.  
  
Hinata already knew it deep in her bones. She’d just been getting too comfortable, being able to be on the same team as Naruto and do so many things with him, and talk with him so often. Now the universe was just reminding her to keep her head down and not get too uppity. Really, Hinata was just ugly garbage after all, sure as sunrise.  
  
So, it stood to reason that Naruto would never want garbage. Naruto would want someone smarter, prettier, and more confident than her, even if that someone was always getting angry at him and treating him like he was trash too.  
  
It was to the point where Hinata was begrudgingly listening to him vent about her and trying to help him figure out how to win her over, biting her tongue every single time she got the urge to try and convince him that Sakura wasn’t good for him and wasn’t worth it. Part of her felt like doing that would be for Naruto’s own good, but the other part of her couldn’t get over how horrifically petty it made her feel. Every seemingly logical explanation she had got turned against her in her own mind, her thoughts always convincing her that she was exaggerating the negatives out of jealousy and selfishness. So, the only remaining option was to try her best to be supportive in Naruto’s quest to change Sakura’s mind. She’d still do anything for Naruto, after all. More than he could ever know. If she could try to help him be happier, then surely, that’d make her happy too.  
  
It’d _have_ to, because honestly, what else _was_ there? Trying to enjoy a few more years of her youth stuck with an insufferable family, the stifling pressure of her clan, and no other friends except a boy who would never want her the way she wanted him? She was a total wimp, so she probably couldn’t even hope to enjoy some cool, heroic kunoichi’s death in time to avoid being married off to someone powerful and important and forced into pumping out more Byakugan Babies for her _~oh so special~_ clan.  
  
Well, that was how things were. At least Naruto-kun was her friend and teammate. She’d just have to make the best of that.  
  
Again and again, Hinata silently mulled over the topic of Naruto and Sakura… and the more she did, the more her thoughts drifted to less pleasant places in the process.  
  
No matter what she did, she just couldn’t shake her disdain for that Sakura girl. She wasn’t exactly a bad person by any extent, she would even give Hinata perfectly cordial greetings whenever she showed up, but… she was always just so _dismissive_ of Naruto, always so clearly only around him for Sasuke’s sake… No matter what advice Hinata gave, no matter how Naruto tried to dial himself back and not do anything to set Sakura off, Sakura always found fault with him one way or another. She at least was maybe more superficially kind to Naruto than before, but it was nothing to write home about.  
  
Hinata at least felt a little better when observing that Kiba and Shino didn’t particularly seem to like Sakura either, and vice-versa. She felt a bit more fond of them if only because they actually succeeded in getting Sakura to leave sometimes. Their preferred method seemed to be for Shino to threaten to get bugs in her hair, but despite that, it seemed to be Kiba and Sakura with the most friction between them. She was always calling him things like “loudmouth”, “dog breath”, or “idiot”, and he was constantly calling her a “know-it-all”, a “whiny asshole”, or “a geek who fakes being pretty”. In turn, Naruto would frequently get into fights with him, trying to “defend Sakura-chan’s honor”. (Which was kind of noble of him, but somehow it also made Hinata want to vomit. She blamed it on the fact that he might get hurt.) Shino made a pretty decent mediator, though… if only because no one liked the feeling of getting bugs in their ears and noses for misbehavior. He wasn’t much of a diplomat or a talker in general otherwise.  
  
Hinata couldn’t help but silently and guiltily agree with Kiba. With the Byakugan’s perceptive abilities compounded by Hyuuga training involving a lot of reading people’s body language, Sakura really did come off as… frankly, kind of “fake”. Beyond people she disliked, she always put so much effort into just being some cute, sweet, ‘charming’ girl, and she had a continuous air of vanity to her (even though Hinata had also heard Sakura criticize Ino for her vanity, so Hinata felt she could safely add ‘hypocrite’ to the list of flaws). It was annoying, honestly, especially when Hinata could so clearly pick out her underlying agitation and so clearly see how she acted when she _did_ dislike people.  
  
Unfortunately for Hinata and Sasuke, in times where Sakura honestly didn’t have anywhere else to be, then there was no reason for her teammates to show up. So, in those cases, she’d just stick around for _hours._ Long, infuriating hours of Hinata suddenly and abruptly playing second fiddle when Naruto was usually so kind and attentive…  
  
Jeez, didn’t Sakura have a nice, normal, low-pressure family she could go home to whenever she wanted? Why didn’t she just do that?! Why did she have to come along and mess things up just by existing?! Some people didn’t get to go home and be happy! Some people could only be happy when they got to hang out with their good friend, a friend who most certainly deserved better than _Sakura_ , that ungrateful little-  
  
Anyway.

* * *

  
As the days passed, Hinata did her best to be polite to Sakura anyway, even if she did kind of want to push her off a cliff sometimes. Hinata ended up coping by just saving most of her thoughts on anything besides training and missions for whenever she was back home in her room and she could stew in her emotions without risking anyone else getting involved.  
  
As Hinata laid in bed, limbs still throbbing from training, she still couldn’t decide if she was really being fair, or if she was just looking for any little reason to dislike Sakura because of her own interest in Naruto. Similarly, even though Hinata still sometimes had half a mind to try and discourage Naruto from Sakura, using some of the actual evidence she’d noted, and the completely accurate observation that Sakura obviously preferred Sasuke… every time, it still just made her feel really mean. 

Hinata wouldn’t be doing all she could as a friend to be helpful, and she’d still feel like part of her motivation was only to get Naruto to herself. On one hand, she could almost rationalize that perhaps nudging Naruto to get over Sakura was ultimately the most helpful thing for him, getting him to face reality and come to grips with Sakura not reciprocating. But no matter how she tried to slice it, there was the constant fear that it would just mean she was selfish, inconsiderate, and manipulative, which would in turn definitely mean no one would ever love her, especially not Naruto.  
  
But in exchange, that just brought up another important question… if Hinata would have to give up on Naruto as anything other than a friend… where did that leave her? Pretty much her only redeeming quality was being a “nice girl”. And even that kind of broke down as a "redeeming" quality, given that she was going to be expected to fight and kill people. Plus, even in her head, she secretly wasn’t even all that nice! Sometimes she secretly wanted to go on a mission with Sakura alone just to push her off some cliff in the middle of nowhere! So what else was there?!  
  
What did she even _want, except_ for Naruto to love her?!  
  
~~Except for anyone to really, truly feel like they loved her, in any meaningful sense, romantic or not….  
~~  
Kakashi-sensei openly stated he didn’t particularly like her, Naruto-kun, or even Sasuke-kun pretty soon after they met. And she still wasn’t entirely sure he truthfully didn’t do all of that genjutsu on her on purpose...  
  
Iruka-sensei only had so much time for her...  
  
Mizuki-sensei openly berated her to her face and probably would’ve killed her if he got the chance… So that was a good precedent-setter for knowing that teachers could very well secretly hate her. From there, who _knew_ who else secretly hated her? It could just be everybody, even! It certainly felt like it sometimes!  
  
Hanabi was always tied up in training and chores… probably being steadily inundated with things about how her big sister was a failure and a disappointment, and couldn’t be looked up to or admired in any sense…  
  
Neji nii-san was… Neji nii-san.   
  
Mother would _say_ she loved her… and then turn around and barely hug her, read her stories, play with her, train with her, ask about how she was doing, or much of _anything_ beyond “exist in a way that doesn’t upset Hiashi”.  
  
Which meant there were three possibilities… Either Mother was really that afraid of Father, Mother was _lying,_ or Mother simply didn’t love her enough to disobey or stand up to Father, which essentially felt like Mother lying regardless.   
  
~~Was it really love if it wasn’t strong enough to defy Father?  
~~  
Speaking of Father… it was like, maybe, somewhere deep down, he _wanted to_ love her…  
  
But Father loved some _future_ Hinata. Some hypothetical. Some strong, confident girl that just _wasn’t_ the present Hinata. Was something that Hinata felt she might _never_ truly become.  
  
And if that was the case, it seemed relatively obvious what the issue was.  
  
Hinata simply wasn’t _worthy_ of love.   
  
So, from there… was the goal to become someone worthy of it?  
  
It sounded nice, but… then what?  
  
If she became someone… capable of being loved… what did that even _mean?_ _  
__  
_ Did she just keep getting stronger? How much more did she need? What was the goal, exactly? Did one exist at all?  
  
From what she could best divine… _no._ There was no solid line in the sand. No absolute point where everyone would tell her “You’ve done it! Now you can be loved! Now you can be acknowledged!”. Even if there were, it wouldn’t last forever. Their standards would keep increasing. They’d keep expecting her to progress. To do _more._  
  
So, to become _lovable,_ to become _respectable,_ was to become as strong as possible.  
  
To become as strong as possible was to try as hard as possible. To prove herself at every turn.  
  
But… then what?  
  
Did becoming “ _worthy”_ mean Naruto would _have_ to love her, then? Did it mean _anyone_ would? Would Hinata really expect Naruto to drop Sakura like yesterday’s trash, _just_ to run to her side? Naruto wasn’t that kind of person, she just _knew_ he wasn’t. If he were, would she even _want_ someone so callous and self-centered? Someone who’d just run off as soon as there was someone else? 

Beyond that… There was still a deeper fear. A possibility Hinata didn’t like to think of, didn’t even think was rational… but it haunted her regardless. What if… what if she went through all of that, and it just turned out… it wasn’t only her merits. What if it was just _her?_ What if she was just… fundamentally, irrevocably, irreparably unlovable? What if that was just her lot in life? Naruto and Iruka only being kind to her out of obligation… branch members of the Hyuuga only being kind to her because she was technically in the head family. What if that was why Mother wouldn’t stand up for her? What if that was why Naruto was her only friend, and what if Naruto just felt like he had to because she helped him with some things?  
  
Then what?  
  
She needed something _solid,_ then. She needed something _dependable,_ something _personal._ She needed a goal that _wasn’t_ other people. 

Something that would mean that even if she were garbage forever, even if she were the worst kind of trash imaginable… _nobody_ could deny her of it. _Nobody_ could take it from her.

...But what would that even _be?_ What would that even _look like?_ _  
_ _  
_ _What even was it, to have a desire that wasn’t someone else’s, or about someone else?!_ _  
_ _  
_ And there it was. If she didn’t exactly know what she wanted… then… perhaps, for at least a while, she could at least just try to avoid what she _didn’t_ want. And maybe _that_ would be enough, for the time being.  
  
And what she didn’t want was to be a burden. A doll. Alone. A puppet.  
  
And from there, she could begin to puzzle out the basic shape of what she did want…  
  
What she wanted was to be strong. Respected. _Loved. Free._ It was vague, but it was a start.

* * *

_  
_ One day, Hinata gave a deep sigh as she sat on her bed, and briefly activated her Byakugan to glance over at a “secret box”, placed under a floorboard under her dresser. It was made so that a Byakugan couldn’t see through it, and Hinata had been gifted it so she could have some illusion of “privacy”, even if it did ironically make her more paranoid. The problem with the box was that the box itself was still very obviously visible to a Byakugan, and you’d know that its obvious purpose was to hide secrets or private things. What you really needed was a box that was just invisible to the Byakugan altogether, not one that basically broadcasted “I’m here, I have mysterious stuff in me and I'm just begging you to come open me!”. But of course, Hyuuga kids could never have privacy like that. In the box, Hinata had just one thing.   
  
He was a plush of a guardian lion, the symbolic animal of the Hyuuga clan and what used to be one of their most powerful and prominent summons. The massive, majestic beasts used to be renowned for their amazing seal and barrier capabilities, and the ability to exert massive strength without ever harming the surrounding buildings or structures. It was apparently thanks to their nature as guardians… But roughly around thirty years ago, during the Second War, they’d apparently betrayed Konoha in a great rebellion, and there’d been no choice but to hunt them to extinction. Their prominence in Hyuuga imagery and folklore was summarily downplayed drastically, but it was still present if you knew where to look. The lions were, after all, the true first users of the Byakugan.  
  
Still, Hinata couldn’t help but hold a great fondness for them... and wonder what exactly the full details of what'd happened were. It was all kind of sketchy, and nobody liked to talk about it even though there were very obviously still people old enough to have been around and been personally affected by it when it happened. Her father should've been eleven or twelve. Already old enough to be a ninja, with his talent and with the war going on. Mother would've been in much the same position. It was all kind of strange. In their specific cases, she could imagine that perhaps they hadn't experienced much of the Lion Rebellion firsthand because they were kids at the time, but she felt like they should've by all means ended up being told everything as adults. That was especially true if they were now leading the head family.  
  
Hinata’s stuffed lion in particular was named Shi-san. He'd started out a beautiful white and gold, and Hinata had done her best to take care of him. Now he was generally kind of greyish-looking, with a couple of ugly stains and a lopsided head due to Hinata's crude effort to sew it back on after it was torn off. By Neji.

None of the rest was exactly his fault, but he managed to get away with slicing the head off by claiming they'd been playing a "pretend-game" where the lion was their hostage and he'd "accidentally" put too much power into his chakra blade because Hinata "scared him".

 _Obviously,_ Neji _stole_ him and _threatened her_ with beheading him, but no one believed something like that and he'd threatened her into dropping it. No one believed that part either, and Hinata very quickly learned to shut up about it.

The rest was because Father had decided Hinata was too old for Shi-san anyway and that her excessive emotion over the "accident" was a sign of her "immaturity" and "excessive attachment", so he had Shi-san thrown away. 

Hinata had snuck out and dug through the garbage looking for him and his head, by which time he was already filthy, and then done her best to clean him up and sew his head back on without anyone knowing.

It hadn't been too long after she was disallowed from associating with her old friend who used to talk about her behind her back anyway. That meant that Shi-san had been her only remaining "friend" at the time. Even after all the time that had passed since then, Hinata couldn't bring herself to think of Shi-san as "it", which only made her feel more guilty and pathetic for not being able to properly fix him or just get over him when he was clearly just a toy for little babies, and she was clearly supposed to be too grown-up for him. He didn't even have electronic recordings or anything.

She didn't understand why Neji had gotten away with it. Father could usually tell when people were lying, so why did he believe Neji? Why? Maybe it was just another of his cruel little tests. She wasn’t brave enough to stand up to a member of the branch family, so he was punishing her for that by pretending not to believe her.  
  
Whatever. Hinata still had something that Father’s mindgames hadn’t managed to puzzle out. There was something else Hinata had hidden too, carefully hidden in a sealing scroll tuned to Hinata’s chakra only, and that scroll in turn was hidden in _another_ box placed under a different floorboard, one that Hinata had gone against the rules by rendering invisible to the Byakugan herself. It really hadn’t been easy. She’d had to sneak into some parts of the Hyuuga libraries she wasn’t really supposed to in order to research it, and go around to different stores under a Henge just to privately procure some shockingly expensive materials, all to do what basically came down to just tightly and very carefully wrapping a normal lockbox in fancy strips of seal paper that she’d had to properly draw out some extremely precise seals on, with special ink, all by herself, and then bind to the box. The result was that although it’d be perfectly visible to normal eyes, the Byakugan couldn’t perceive it or its contents in any way. It simply wouldn’t be registered at all.  
  
She couldn’t even afford to take the risk of just retrieving the box from where she kept it in a normal way. If anyone happened to see her doing that, it’d be far too suspicious. So, it was also tagged so that she could just rapidly summon and de-summon it from where it was. The thing she was hiding was in itself set up to be able to quickly return to the scroll in a similar way, but it still required her to remove it from the scroll manually.  
  
The process required to arrange everything right had been lengthy and painstaking, and all of it was just to hide a diary, in particular. The diary itself wasn’t even a diary on the surface, it just masqueraded as a math notebook. There were a couple of elaborate custom-made seals inside that did that, among other things. They were carefully hidden from Byakugan view using the same principles as the way Hinata hid the box. Not only were they able to disguise the diary properly even when viewed with the Byakugan, they were complicated enough to let Hinata herself see the true nature of the book even while it was disguised, so that anyone who happened to be using the Byakugan to watch her write would only see her writing in a math notebook. They also made it so that every page’s writing could be cleared, saved, and retrieved later as needed, by channeling a bit of chakra while thinking about the desired topic. Of course, only Hinata’s chakra specifically would do. As a result, the book had over 200 times the capacity it outwardly seemed to.  
  
It’d all taken Hinata about a year of effort, off-and-on, to put together in absolute secrecy. There’d been so much trial and error, along with fretful, anxious late-night research of stuff she technically wasn’t supposed to be reading, that she didn’t like to think about it. It’d only been about six weeks ago that she’d finally gone through the final pushes and rounds of tweaking to perfect it, feeling she’d absolutely need to if she were going to be friends with Naruto now.

How many times had she had to stealthily mark risky books with discrete tags that would let her summon them later while everyone was asleep, and then de-summon them to the exact location she took them from, in case it was too risky to take them directly? How long had she spent just refining that summoning and tagging process in itself? How many times in the past had she tried to put together a custom chakra-tuned seal that could absorb and store text on the paper for later, only for it to scramble it into an unreadable mess or somehow make the paper start smoldering when she tried to retrieve it? How many times had she failed to make the seal for the protective notebook genjutsu just right? How many times had she failed to make the box properly invisible, and then had to painstakingly sneak out to get more of the specific ink required and draw every single obscuring seal all over again, because just swapping out the spot where she made a mistake didn't work even if she actually managed to find where the mistake was?  
  
The point was, Hinata had been _extremely_ meticulous about the whole ordeal. The Byakugan was basically a dream-tool for spying, and consequently a nightmare for any Hyuuga child who wanted privacy. Leaving any avenue of potential discovery unaccounted for could land her in hot water. The upshot was that everything it’d taught her about how to be stealthier, more secretive, and better at seals could be applied to other things too. For instance, now it was way easier to sneak forbidden books than it’d been when she’d started, because now she knew how to disguise any of them as normal books even while she was reading them. In turn, she knew how to turn replacement objects into convincing copies of them so she wouldn’t have to feel as paranoid about de-summoning them before someone somehow happened to notice they were missing.  
  
Once again, Hinata wondered why the Scroll Of Sealing had such weirdly lackluster security that two twelve-year-olds figured it out. Even once they stole it, there were all kinds of measures to render scrolls harder to actually read or use, and the Scroll Of Sealing had used literally _none_ of them. Weird. _Very_ weird.  
  
Deciding she needed something to help her process all the thoughts going through her head, Hinata summoned the secret box and then in turn retrieved her diary from the scroll before quickly de-summoning everything but the diary. Hinata had recently decided to take advantage of all the extra space her diary had to use it as a training journal as well, designed to record findings, experiments, and insights. She’d also decided to copy all the jutsu instructions she and Naruto had gotten from the scrolls into it as well, with a few extra notes on things she wanted to try or possible patterns she was beginning to notice in the meantime. The secrecy was probably a bit much for just training stuff… but it just wouldn’t do if someone found out about their copied information and decided to confiscate it all.   
  
Besides that, the training stuff actually was still _personal,_ in a way. She wanted to fight and practice the way _she_ wanted, not in only ways Hyuuga were _supposed_ to. There was so much else the Byakugan could help with than just taijutsu. Even if the training ideas were less personal to her, she already knew her father likely wouldn’t approve of some of the directions she wanted to go in, or some of the ways she wanted to try experimenting with her jutsu. Within mere moments, the bulk of the tentative ideas flitting about in her head were clustering around a certain line of thinking in particular. Something that she might finally be able to consider an actual goal, as scandalous as it was.  
  
_How to defy the Byakugan._ _  
_ _  
_ How to counter and overcome the all-seeing, ever-spying, privacy-sapping eye that everyone used to judge, measure, and mandate every little thing about her. To use it in ways others couldn’t understand, couldn’t counter themselves. To gain some little scrap, some _modicum_ of extra freedom and control…  
  
To one day, look her father in the eye and realize he no longer had any power over her...  
  
For that purpose, she’d have to be prepared to give her _all_ .  
  
To that end, Hinata began to write.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, right off the bat for anyone who’s thinking “what the hell, the Byakugan wasn’t first used by guardian lions”: Welp, it was now, as part of the whole “Chakra wasn’t just from aliens anymore” thing. I promise I’m going somewhere with this, but mainly I first got the idea because I thought it’d be cool if guardian lions/shishi had more relevance to the Hyuuga outside of like, one cool jutsu and that’s it.
> 
> Also, I hope this next thing is obvious, but here’s a disclaimer anyway: Negative thoughts on people in this chapter usually do not reflect my actual thoughts, or serve as any kind of sneaky excuse to “say what I really think”.
> 
> I feel like this chapter begins to highlight one of the most important benefits I’m going for with Hinata… she actually knows how to give Sasuke space, and Naruto listens to her.
> 
> As iconic as Naruto and Sasuke’s rivalry is, (Along with how it’s just plain funnier if they aren’t totally polite to each other all the time), I want it to be a lot less toxic.
> 
> But I will say that I honestly do often side more with Sasuke in Part 1, and feel that Naruto canonically has an under-addressed issue with projecting untrue things on Sasuke, especially the “he's mean/arrogant” stuff. In most cases, Sasuke's only openly mean to Naruto when Naruto did something wrong or instigated it in some way. 
> 
> Sasuke’s original plan in the Forest Of Death was to give up the scroll and run from Orochimaru, he repeatedly made it clear he wanted the others to run too, and his team called him cowardly until his only viable option was to fight (and TBH that's kinda because Naruto recklessly tried to fight anyway, got knocked out, then ended up needing to be bailed out as a result.) When Sasuke really did start acting overly arrogant sometimes in Part 2, it just felt tacked on to make him “darker”.
> 
> Plus, even in much of Part 2 it felt to me like Naruto was kind of self-centered and obsessive about him, and I wasn’t a fan of how he approached Sasuke's feelings/perspective on things. But doing that in a way I would’ve liked would require "good guys" to be too critical of Konoha, which is apparently illegal or something I guess.
> 
> In general, I always wished a bit more was done to explore Naruto's flaws and fears in more depth. Dark Naruto had so much potential in this regard, but then it got smoothed over in practically no time. (And yet they had forever and a day to spend on stretching the War Arc like it’s goddamn Laffy Taffy…)
> 
> As a heads up, next chapter is probably when I start my version of Wave, provided that the stuff I want to hit on first doesn’t end up taking up its own chapter. From there, I want to add a couple of things in between Wave and Chuunin Exams, because I feel like Chuunin Exams happened too fast. (Allegedly, that’s not actually Kishimoto’s fault, but still). Honestly, I feel like Wave was a little too soon too, but Wave is one of my favorite arcs, and the “in over their heads”/”taste of bitter reality” vibe is a big part of its draw for me, so I let that slide.
> 
> This chapter has also started getting into how I want Hinata’s main end goal to be something besides either Naruto or proving her worth to her father… because honestly, Hiashi really isn’t worth her goddamn time imo. If your child needs to go out well out of their way to prove to you why you should give a shit about them, you’ve already failed. Take the L and go.


	4. Try To Stay Calm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sakura overstays her welcome.
> 
> (Warning: Critiques that may come off as bashing, but are included for the sake of future development)

It was during the third month of being Genin that something changed in the tedium of Team 7 training while Hinata and Sasuke did their best to endure Sakura’s intrusions.  
  
Well, two things.  
  
For one, Ino showed up for Sasuke too, although Hinata didn’t mind her nearly as much. If anything, it was almost kind of nice that her fights with Sakura forced Naruto to keep a certain distance from Sakura in the process, if he didn’t want to get yelled at once Sakura was riled up.  
  
Shino and Kiba came as well, as it seemed to be another day where Sakura was apparently supposed to be somewhere else. Things seemed a little different, though. Kiba was slow and sullen, hiding his eyes with the help of his hoodie. Meanwhile, Hinata could practically feel Shino’s glare at Sakura from a mile away, even through his sunglasses, and oddly enough, for once Akamaru was glaring right along with him. Sakura was very pointedly ignoring them all in favor of an argument with Ino.  
  
It was some frivolous thing about Sasuke’s favorite color, enough to make Hinata resist the urge to roll her eyes. Still, it wasn’t too bad. She’d gotten better at just ignoring Sakura and focusing purely on hitting a tree or something.  
  
Except then Naruto ignored the unspoken rule about approaching Sakura while she was in the middle of arguing. Not out of foolishness, but only because he’d been rather calmly trying to come to Sakura’s defense on a certain tangential point she was trying to argue.  
  
Sakura’s reaction was less than favorable.  
  
“For the hundredth time, shut up and get the hell out of my space, you dumbass!” Sakura shouted, as she raised a fist…  
  
And in an instant, the second change made itself known. Hinata was there to grab her arm before that fist had even the vaguest chance of connecting. Immediately, Sakura winced, noting with some silent shock that Hinata’s grip was so tight it might actually bruise her. Meanwhile, for a brief moment, all Hinata could focus on was a smug, ugly sense of superiority at feeling just how tender and scrawny Sakura’s arm was. Every time she’d had to grab Naruto or Sasuke’s arms during sparring matches, it was already clear they had more underlying strength and meat to them, despite still obviously not being done developing. Sakura was practically like a twig in comparison.  
  
It’d already been a hard day for Hinata. She only got two hours of sleep, which was bad enough without her averaging only four lately. She’d been planning on another four-hour night once she’d put a satisfactory amount of time into her daily practice to unlock Fuuton, as well as finishing up the notes she was taking on some books she smuggled from the Hyuuga libraries. She was at least getting pretty used to such an arrangement, but then her father just had to go waking her up ridiculously early to have some surprise sparring match with Neji. Neji had seemed just as silently pissy about it as Hinata herself.  
  
Of course, despite Hinata’s best efforts, she took an absolute beating, since Neji didn't pass up the chance to vent his frustration at being woken up so early on her. It didn’t help that she couldn’t use everything she’d been experimenting with, and that her tactics were limited, because there was an unspoken expectation that her father purely wanted her to use Hyuuga clan techniques to win.  
  
So, exhausted and achingly sore, with a litany of bruises beneath the thick hoodie she always wore, Hinata did her best to go about her day, knowing that her father expected no less. He wouldn’t even bother to tell her how she did in any real detail, only making some non-committal hum when asked. She knew it was probably some random test to see if she was making proper progress and not being “led astray” by being Naruto’s friend, which was infuriating, but she had to convince Father that she wasn’t hopeless just because she still couldn’t beat Neji.  
  
But, collecting her thoughts, Hinata finally began to speak to Sakura after an eerie silence.  
  
“ _Haruno-san._ ” she started with dead calm, much to Sakura’s confusion.  
  
“H-Haruno-san? But that’s so-” Sakura started, frowning slightly, before Hinata interrupted.  
  
“ _Please_. Quiet. So that you understand. Okay?” Hinata said quietly, not loosening her grip in the slightest. She didn’t exactly sound _unfriendly,_ but the heavily clipped way of speech and overall lack of soul to her tone wasn’t _friendly,_ either.  
  
“O-okay…” Sakura replied quietly, actually starting to feel uneasy. At that point, everyone else was staring, but for once, Hinata didn’t care. She was too busy with the feeling that a howling, raging squall was about to erupt right out of her very ribcage.  
  
“ _Never_ attack Naruto-kun _again_. _Please,_ ” Hinata said. There was something strained, almost malevolent to that ‘please’, and it only made Sakura flinch instead of being any real assurance of politeness.  
  
“I-I won’t…” Sakura said quietly. She was beginning to notice the bags under Hinata’s eyes, and the way stray strands of her hair were beginning to stand on end and sway to a nonexistent breeze as Sakura’s skin tingled unpleasantly. It was like Hinata was literally _charged_ with seething fury, and exhausted from holding it in for so long.  
  
“ _Promise me_ ,” Hinata said, her voice almost a quiet hiss as she clamped her grip down tighter still. Sakura winced in pain, but didn’t quite seem to hear her.  
  
“Promise me, _Haruno-san._ You have to. _Please,_ ” Hinata said, a bit louder that time but no less foreboding.  
  
“I promise! No hitting!” Sakura cried, trying and failing to step away from Hinata’s steel grip.  
  
“And no yelling,” Hinata added on, instantly. Her voice was still flat, cold, and all too calm. “ _Much appreciated._ ”  
  
“And no yelling! I promise!” Sakura hurriedly responded, almost ready to start tearing up.  
  
“And one more thing. Please _explain_ to me, Haruno-san, why you think it’s _okay_ to _constantly_ bother Sasuke-san in the middle of our important training, but you act like it’s such a _crime_ whenever Naruto-kun wants to be around _you_ ,” Hinata said, very slowly and deliberately, quiet but making sure every syllable was crystal clear.  
  
“I- Well- That’s-” Sakura started, unable to look Hinata in the eye.  
  
“I’ll tell you what it is, _Haruno-san._ You unfairly judge everything he does, and meanwhile, you feel entitled.You... you think it’s _okay_ when you do it, because you have this- this _notion_ that you’re _better_ than Naruto-kun. You bought the lie this whole village has been trying to sell you, just for your own ego. And that’s not fair either,” Hinata said, still overly calm.  
  
Sakura just sort of gaped like a fish, opening and closing her mouth uselessly as a shameful blush formed on her face. Everyone else was just in disbelief at how they’d never heard her so clearly and directly criticize someone to their face.  
  
“And if you like Sasuke-san so much, I think you should know that your actions, no matter how you’ve intended them, have been disrespectful to him as well. To be honest, why _should_ Sasuke-san like you if you don’t ever respect his boundaries?” Hinata flatly asked.  
  
Sakura began tearing up in earnest in that, weakly trying to apologize. The display of emotion seemed to begin quelling something in Hinata’s storming heart, at long last.  
  
“ _Thank you_ for listening _,_ ” Hinata said, her accompanying smile all too thin and dishonest, before abruptly letting her arm go. Sakura quickly began to rub at the spot she’d been grabbed, while Hinata seemed to come out of whatever state of cold rage she’d entered, finally noticing how everyone was staring at her in shock.  
  
Hinata’s very first priority, after stammering off a reflexive apology, was to check Naruto’s reaction… and her mind raced a mile a minute, as she took in his confused and somewhat frightened expression, and she started fully realizing that technically, with the tightness of her grip, she’d physically harmed Sakura right in front of Naruto.  
  
Between that and everyone’s staring, which she could only assume was horrified disbelief at her actions, Hinata’s breathing began to accelerate rapidly. Suddenly, once again painfully aware that she could be judged negatively and lacking enough persisting anger to disregard it, terror began to win out.  
  
“Hinata-ch-” Naruto started, but even the very sound of his voice was enough for her to flinch and then bolt like a terrified deer. She could not deal with the possibility that she’d just unwittingly made Naruto mad at her. Naruto, of all people, when she wanted it to be anyone _but_ Naruto. One little moment of poorly concealed fury, and it was possible that it was about to cost her _everything_.  
  
She didn’t even know where she was running to, she merely knew it needed to be somewhere far. Somewhere they wouldn’t think to look. They couldn’t look at her. No one could look at her. She was shameful and dirty and defective and repulsive and things like this were exactly why-  
  
Exactly why-  
  
Hinata’s thoughts cut off as she just willed herself to run faster, not wanting to dwell on the pain. She just had to hide. Had to get away. That was all that mattered.

She turned on her Byakugan and began frantically scanning the area as she ran. At the very least, her range had increased to about fifty meters over the course of her recent training.  
  
Unfortunately, as she focused her vision on looking behind her for a bit of extra range, she caught Sasuke and Naruto at the very edges of it, using their elemental techniques to increase their speed. Her blood ran cold as she realized she didn’t have an equivalent technique. They were gonna catch her. They were gonna catch her, and tell her they hated her, and she would deserve it, and nothing would ever be the same again, and she’d be forever known as a cruel, bitter, selfish person who no one would ever want to be around.   
  
They came closer, closer, and closer still. She couldn’t outrun them. She had to face up to what she did like an adult.   
  
With a deep, trembling sigh, Hinata stopped running, but pressed herself up against the base of a tree, dropped to the ground, and rapidly curled in on herself, desperately willing herself to somehow disappear.   
  
They arrived far too soon, both looking down at her with expressions she was too terrified to parse.   
  
“Hinata-chan,” Naruto started once again, sounding deeply worried. But that didn’t matter. He was probably just sad he was about to tell her they could never hang out again.   
  
“I-I’m sorry, Naruto-kun,” Hinata stammered out. “I’m really, really, really sorry, I don’t know what happened, I don’t know why I did that, and-”   
  
“Yes you do,” Sasuke suddenly interrupted. Hinata stopped cold. “You know exactly why, or else you wouldn’t run away like that,” Sasuke bluntly continued, seeming to have little sympathy for her. Hinata felt her blood running cold as she realized he was _right. “_ And you wouldn’t call her ‘Haruno-san’, of all things,” Sasuke said. “Not even I call her that, and I can hardly stand her…”   
  
Naruto looked like he was going to protest, but Hinata answered before he could. “It’s true,” Hinata said quietly, trying not to cry. Crying would just come off like another smokescreen to hide behind instead of owning up to what she just did, and why. “...It was because I don’t like her,” she quietly forced out, voice trembling as she failed to completely ignore the feeling that the earth would swallow her alive for such a sin. “She’s annoying. She’s a hypocrite. And most of all, she’s willing to hurt Naruto-kun, for completely selfish reasons. Naruto-kun has never knowingly been mean to her. If she wants space, she could just say that calmly. But she has no problem pursuing you aggressively herself, Sasuke-san,” Hinata said.

“To be fair…” Naruto started. “I thought about the stuff you said to her… and I think it’s better if I don’t bother her anymore either…” Naruto continued, looking down at the ground. “People not liking me is just kinda… the normal thing, I guess, so it was easy to brush off how she acts as ‘normal’. It wasn’t until you said all that stuff that it really sank in how much I’m probably really annoying her, and that this isn’t as normal as I thought… Not to mention, Hinata-chan, being around you has given me a better idea of what it’s like when a girl _actually_ wants to be around you. I’ve actually been confused about why you and Sakura-chan are so different like that, but I guess I get it now…” Naruto said, his voice unusually small.   
  
Hinata just halfheartedly grinned at him, simultaneously ashamed and relieved. It wasn’t outright rejection, but the net result was still that Naruto ended up being upset in some way.   
  
It was Sasuke who spoke next. “Who cares if Sakura doesn’t like you? You don’t need her,” Sasuke started. As he began to realize that his words sounded suspiciously motivated by some measure of fondness, he quickly tacked on an addendum. “We need you properly focused when you’re training and doing missions so that you don’t slow us down or hurt yourself,” Sasuke continued, hoping that sounded sufficiently logical and detached, but there was still some lingering uncertainty, so it was probably getting obvious that his act was wearing thin when he tacked on a totally unnecessary “Since, you know, if you’re hurt that makes trouble for us too…” he said with an awkward cough, one step away from blurting out some incredibly transparent lie along the lines of “ _It’s not like I care personally if you get hurt!”_   
  
“Well, yeah, but I should at least tell her I’m sorry for all the trouble I made for her…” Naruto said quietly, before looking at Hinata seriously. She almost flinched, fearing an oncoming rejection, but what he said was wholly different. “Hinata-chan… Be honest. Have I… also been annoying you without realizing?” Naruto asked, frowning slightly.   
  
The question had her briefly blindsided, and briefly angry at Sakura all over again for contributing to a situation where Naruto would doubt himself that much.“N-no, Naruto-kun, of course not! I'm... I... you’re my best friend,” she said quietly, blushing slightly at the feeling of adding ‘best’ to it. “And if you do accidentally do something wrong, I’ll try my best to tell you politely,” Hinata said.   
  
Sasuke couldn’t help the weird twinge of unpleasantness in his chest when Naruto immediately perked up, eyes wide and shimmering like someone had given him the whole world as he quickly knelt down next to Hinata and hugged her. “You’re my best friend too!” he said joyously.   
  
On the other hand, another part of Sasuke was… weirdly grateful? It was such a weird mashup of feelings. He wanted Naruto to be happy, on some level, but he felt like he wasn’t personally capable of providing that. So he took some solace in knowing there was someone else who could… but at the same time…   
  
Wait, who was he even jealous of, exactly?   
  
Inner Sasuke seemed to be at war between _“I wish I were the one hugging him,”_ and _“I wish someone would hug me like that,”_ which presented two similar but subtly different desires. To be the one who could make someone happy, _and_ to be the one on the receiving end.

It was disgusting.  
  
It was stupid.   
  
But by the gods, he couldn’t want anything more if he fucking _tried._ He knew, because he _had_ been trying. He’d been trying so hard to want revenge more, to want nothing but Itachi’s death, so that it’d all distract him from the pain of feeling like Itachi had ripped out his soul and burnt it to unloving, unlovable ash that night.   
  
But that was a trap.   
  
To pretend he didn’t want such things was relieving in one sense, but in another, it was doing exactly what Itachi wanted. 

Sasuke looked down curiously at Hinata. This situation… it wasn’t some lie of hers. She wasn’t hiding things maliciously. She did what she did because she too had been trying to deny things that were simply a part of her. She’d been trying to pretend away a certain part of her, because the alternative brought her fear and pain. Different specifics, same core.

And for once, she’d finally managed a bit of honesty.  
  
When would he?

* * *

They all walked back to the training grounds in relative silence, which was kind of unusual with Naruto around. All he really talked about was a bit of inquiry into why Kiba had been so unusually sullen and quiet when he showed up, given that he was usually almost as loud as Naruto himself. Naruto himself seemed to get quiet again too when he talked long enough that he seemed to be steadily realizing it was probably something Sakura did.  
  
Hinata and Sasuke were simultaneously grateful there was finally something to knock Sakura off the pedestal she didn’t deserve, but also guilty for feeling that way and a bit worried about the usually upbeat ninja.   
  
Of course, Naruto wasn’t exactly a subtle person, so he immediately set out to ask Kiba as soon as they returned. Surprisingly, Ino and all of Team 8 were still there… although Ino only seemed to be hanging around to try and see if she could catch any more juicy bits of info for gossip later.   
  
Sakura seemed like she hadn’t said a word, or even done much of anything, ever since Hinata told her off. But as soon as Naruto started asking questions, Sakura whirled towards her teammates, seeming to silently beg them not to say anything with the tremble in her shoulders and the quiver of her lips.   
  
Shino looked her straight in the eye and began to speak loudly enough for everyone to hear, given that Kiba still couldn’t seem to find his tongue.   
  
“Naruto. Kiba’s been acting like this because he was sparring with Sakura, and she told him that he hits, and I quote, ‘like a total pussy’, despite the fact that Kiba’s blows were only softened because Kurenai-sensei already warned us all against excessive force. Sakura then went on to say that it ‘makes perfect sense, given that you have no dad.’ “ Shino said. “I will also note that she _smiled_ when she said that,” he coldly concluded, still looking past Naruto and straight at Sakura the entire time.   
  
Everyone went quiet at that, besides Ino, who just went “Sakura… did you just secretly _want_ Kiba to fucking maul you for that, or what?!”, not even trying to sound catty. She just sounded genuinely shocked the girl would go so far.   
  
“Besides that… Sakura, are you… seriously not aware that Kiba’s mother is Tsume Inuzuka? She’s a tokubetsu jonin, and even if I know nothing about her as a person, I have to assume that she’s logically good at taijutsu if she’s also an Inuzuka. Besides tracking, it’s their area of specialty,” Sasuke asked, somewhat confused. For a girl with high grades, Sakura actually seemed to have pretty poor social awareness.   
  
“I also tried to inform her of that,” Shino replied. “But she didn’t listen. Because she dislikes me.”   
  
Sure enough, Sakura seemed to be totally floundering, apparently wholly unaware of that. Sasuke wasn't sure why she wouldn't bother to properly ask about or study the family backgrounds of her own team members if she claimed to be so smart, but it felt like she definitely failed to do so.

“I’m sorry, okay? I really am. I knew it was wrong and didn't even make much sense as soon as I said it. It’s just… I felt like I needed something to really mess up his confidence, because deep down I know he’s been making more progress than me…” Sakura said quietly. “He’s… actually much better than me in taijutsu, and I’ve been learning genjutsu with Kurenai, but Kiba’s sense of smell and hearing is so sharp it’s hard to fool, and Shino’s got all his bugs that don’t really even care about genjutsu to start with, they’re too simple-minded to be affected much… So it feels like I still suck compared to them,” Sakura admitted, voice cracking a bit as she seemed hardly able to look at anyone. “I was so frustrated that I decided that tearing him down was easier than just improving further…”  
  
Sasuke just blinked impassively. So that was the issue. Sakura’s perception of where she stood in genjutsu was warped because she had team members that could counter genjutsu more easily than most, and it was fueling her insecurity. It was no actual excuse, but it was at least an explanation. 

Sasuke could also practically hear the sound of Naruto’s little Sakura pedestal crashing and breaking into tiny pieces even more, now that she’d admitted to cruel treatment of someone other than him, and since Naruto could very personally relate to the kind of pain that specific insult must've caused.

Still, the explanation was ridiculous enough to Sasuke that he couldn’t help but call it out.  
  
“Fuck’s sake. If you want a more realistic idea of how good your genjutsu is so far, go find some other people who’ll let you practice on them, then. Not just the same two guys who are always hard to fool for reasons that aren’t even your fault. Aren’t you supposed to be smart or something?” Sasuke asked huffily.   
  
Sakura flushed at that. It wasn’t even remotely the most polite way to put it, but she could recognize it was some pretty sound advice. When she thanked Sasuke as a result, then apologized to him for how she’d been acting, it wasn’t hard to miss the way he just grunted and pointedly turned away, as if guilty about the heavily repressed desire to help behind the rude veneer.

“Besides that, Sakura-san… I’d like to apologize,” Hinata forced out, trying her best to be loud enough to hear. “Honestly, not about the actual meanings of what I said. I… unfortunately, have to stand by that. But I do apologize because I could’ve been much more civil about it. There was no real reason to grab your arm that tightly, or to use that kind of tone. I also shouldn’t have just lost heart and run away when I was done. I needed to face up to what I did,” Hinata said.  
  
“Okay, I get why you’re saying sorry to her, but honestly, what you did was kind of awesome,” Kiba said with a laugh, somewhat unexpectedly given how quiet he’d been. Sakura couldn’t hide the obvious wave of hurt and irritation over how he was quicker to praise Hinata than respond to Sakura’s own attempt at explanation and apology, but she supposed that she’d cut deeply enough that she wasn’t really owed immediate forgiveness anyway.   
  
“I understand, Hinata,” Sakura said simply. “I was… out of line. So I apologize to Naruto too, for always losing my patience so quickly,” she said, although she looked like she felt horribly awkward as she did.   
  
“Well, I’m not really mad about it…” Naruto replied. “I’m just sorry that I didn’t know how bad I was annoying you all this time, dattebayo…” he said. “When you hit me and yell at me and stuff, it’s hard for me to see what the big deal is, ‘cause other people do that a lot anyway,” Naruto said. Ostensibly, he meant it as only a ‘don’t feel bad about hitting me’ thing, but it only made Sakura look at him with a dawning horror as she realized she was part of a _widespread_ issue, not just some lone jerk.

“Naruto… if people hit you and yell at you a _lot,_ that’s not normal _or_ okay,” Sakura replied. “Yeah, you’re kind of annoying and you pull too many dumb pranks, but it’s not like you’re some kind of demon or something!”   
  
“I mean, other people have called me that kind of a lot too…” Naruto somewhat sheepishly admitted. Sakura looked like she kind of wanted the ground to swallow her as she grimaced.   
  
“Well, you’re... you're not, okay? I may not… you know, like you in that kind of way, but calling you a demon is obviously blowing things way out of proportion!” Sakura said.   
  
“Y-you think so?” Naruto asked, apparently glad enough to not just get rejected outright.   
  
“Definitely!” Sakura replied, much to Naruto’s relief, as he beamed back at her. She sighed, seeming just a tiny bit relieved, but she still couldn’t quite forget how Hinata had been looking at her like she wanted to break her legs in about eleven different places.

Things steadily began to settle further after that. The group collectively decided to call it a day when it came to training, since even Sasuke had been thrown off his rhythm enough that he wasn’t really in the mood anymore. Ultimately, Ino left, not wanting to keep forcing herself into the situation after Sakura had just been told off for being so invasive of Sasuke’s space. Shino and Sakura left as well, and Kiba would’ve too if Hinata and Naruto hadn’t asked him to go get ramen with them, sensing that he was still a little upset and probably not super keen on getting right back to spending time with Sakura.   
  
Still, the exact dynamic between Kiba and Naruto was a little odd to Hinata. Sasuke too, really. Both had been observant enough over the past years to recall that the two used to play together, along with Shikamaru and Choji… but then Naruto just kind of stopped, for some reason none of them ever really got into.   
  
Beyond that, whenever Kiba and Naruto had gotten into arguments lately due to Naruto trying to jump to Sakura’s defense, it wasn’t really the way Naruto and Sasuke used to argue. It was kind of restrained, in a way, more petulant and mildly annoyed than anything, and the fact that Naruto was so clearly willing to spend time with him again when he felt Kiba could really use it spoke to the fact that there was still some kind of odd, lingering fondness between the two. Really, that just made it the question of why they weren’t still just _actual friends_ stick out even more in Hinata and Sasuke’s minds. Naruto was so blatantly obvious in certain regards, but so strangely mysterious in others.   
  
Sasuke was even more taken aback when Hinata actually wanted him to come with them too, saying she’d pay for it. He reflexively refused, more out of principle than a real desire not to do it.   
  
_“Aw, but I wanna go too!”_ Inner Sasuke whined. Sasuke quickly told him to shut up.   
  
His relationship to her so far was something he’d say was purely “professional”. They trained together, traded advice and opinions about said training, and that was about it. The conversations were always very limited, and Hinata was always very careful about boundaries. He’d kind of liked it, in a sense, just the knowledge that Hinata never tried to force anything on him as long as he didn’t fight with Naruto, which automatically meant she treated him pretty differently from pretty much any other girl their age.   
  
Therefore, if he started opening up, there was a worry that it would start creating certain expectations beyond what’d been established, and she’d steadily devolve into yet another of the needier, clingier types. After all, she already liked following Naruto around like a lost puppy. It seemed mutual though, to the extent Sasuke wasn’t sure which one of the two was really filling the “puppy” role most. Sasuke wasn’t particularly concerned about whatever it was she did with the rest of her day, but it was rather conspicuous how she _always_ went with Naruto whenever training concluded for the day. Never even _once_ did she seem to just go home.   
  
To Sasuke, seeing Hinata slowly bring down her side of the two walls between them was just… mystifying. Even more mystifying… he was admittedly a bit fascinated by the person he was starting to see behind that wall.   
  
_“Plus, Kiba was right. It really was kinda cool when she told Sakura off,”_ Inner Sasuke said, in the back of Sasuke’s mind. For once, he didn’t tell him to shut up.   
  
_“It’s a little sad that they don’t get along very well, but at least it didn’t escalate too far, so I guess it’ll be okay… And it’s really nice that it stopped Sakura from being so mean to Naruto...”_ the voice continued, at which point Sasuke immediately and desperately switched back to telling him to shut the hell up. What did he care that some girl was mean to Naruto?!   
  
_“You know exactly what you care~”_ Inner Sasuke sing-songed. Sasuke just grumpily set off for home, idly wondering if there was some specific part of his brain where Inner Sasuke lived and he could just block it off with a seal and not incur horrible side effects.

* * *

  
Meanwhile, Naruto, Kiba, and Hinata ended up having a great time at Ichiraku Ramen… even if Kiba did make the unfortunate decision to offer to be the one paying if Hinata defeated him in a ramen-eating contest.   
  
Kiba didn’t know _how_ exactly she’d found such a swift way to eat ramen without making a mess, but he did know she somehow ate two bowls more than him and didn’t even break a sweat. Naruto was laughing his ass off at him for his hubris. Honestly, he only had himself to blame for his bank account being unceremoniously decimated. Plus, Hinata was too perceptive for him to get away with sneaking bowls down to Akamaru.   
  
It was only through sleep-deprived carelessness that Hinata explained something she normally wouldn’t have mentioned.   
  
“S-sorry… I was just so focused on not having to deal with my Father or Neji nii-san for a while today that I didn’t have breakfast…” Hinata explained.   
  
Kiba only frowned slightly at that, but Naruto’s reaction was much more involved, as he began fussing over how important breakfast was, while Hinata’s reaction was to just blush and apologize again.   
  
“If you ever don’t wanna eat at home, just tell me next time! I’ll get you something! Even if I have to make it myself!” Naruto responded.   
  
Hinata just nodded shyly, blushing more than ever, while Kiba’s eyes widened in realization.   
  
“So you two have _that_ kind of relationship, huh?” Kiba said with a wide smirk. Hinata, realizing what he meant, immediately went to deny it while blushing furiously, but she couldn’t get the words out fast enough before Naruto replied.   
  
“Yup!” Naruto said happily, causing Hinata to basically short circuit, all of her attempts to bring up any sensible rebuttal getting all muddled and tangled in her brain. D-did… Did Naruto-kun really….   
  
Kiba’s grin only widened. “Serious?! How long has this been going on?!” he asked. Hinata was still desperately trying to work out the clusterfuck of shocked nonsense going on in her head, while Naruto just excitedly answered.   
  
“It just started today! Hinata said it, and I agreed! I mean, I kinda suspected that this is how things are, but it feels really awesome to finally know for sure!” Naruto replied, only making Hinata more confused than ever. What?! When had she confessed?! Had she been emotional and done it without realizing?! Did Naruto-kun really feel the same?! W-were they really… did he think they were really…   
  
In that moment, Naruto seemed to notice her inner panic, much to her misfortune. “Um, Hinata-chan, are you alright?” Naruto asked.   
  
“I-I’m fine… I just, um, it’s… it’s a little surprising that you feel this way, Naruto-kun…” Hinata replied, blushing heavily as she fidgeted with her fingers.   
  
“Huh? I don’t see what’s so surprising about it. Of course I want to be your best friend,” Naruto replied.   
  
Hinata had never known it was possible to somehow be both extremely relieved and extremely disappointed at the exact same time until that very moment. It was so overwhelming her breathing went kind of odd for a second before she managed to compose herself.   
  
“O-oh! Oh, of course… That… That’s what you meant…” Hinata said quietly.   
  
“Wait, what did you think I meant?” Naruto asked, cocking his head a little.   
  
“Obviously, I was asking if you were dating!” Kiba interjected, voice rising in incredulity. “Did you seriously not pick up on that?!”   
  
Naruto looked like a deer caught in headlights for a moment, nearly choking on his own spit before quickly scrambling to his own defense. “H-how was I supposed to know?! You said it all weird! It was vague!”   
  
“Bullshit! Everyone knows that that’s what it means! Read between the lines!” Kiba shot back.   
  
“W-well, whatever! Just know, i-it’s not like that, dattebayo! I mean, Hinata-chan is great and everything, and I do think she would make a good girlfriend for someone like, in theory, b-but it’s just not like that between us!” Naruto cried.   
  
“I think someone sounds suspiciously defensive~” Kiba teased.   
  
“N-no I don’t!” Naruto whined, while Hinata just shrank back and tried to hide her face against the counter as she practically burned with embarrassment. “I’m a million percent the normal amount of defensive that a person should be right now, dattebayo!” 

It was then that Teuchi looked up from a pot of ramen he was preparing and unknowingly chose a really awkward time to cut in with “Huh? You aren’t dating, Naruto? I just didn’t say anything because Hinata seems like the shy type, but Ayame and I always assumed that lately, things seem to have headed in that kind of direction…”  
  
“T-there’s nothing to assume!!!!” Naruto cried, nearly falling out of his seat, as Kiba just cackled. Honestly, having to be the one paying for everything was almost worth it if he got to see Naruto so worked up.

* * *

After Teuchi apologized and Kiba almost tearfully parted with a generous sum of ryo, Naruto and Hinata were left to head back to Naruto’s apartment on their own as Kiba went home. Naruto blathered on more than usual, quite conspicuously trying to avoid addressing any of the awkwardness that came from people assuming that they were dating, but Hinata didn’t call him out on it since she was grateful for the distraction.  
  
Besides, Hinata found herself feeling more exhausted by the minute. She showered at Naruto’s apartment, relieved to rid herself of all of her sweat and grime. Given that it was a crappy shower, it was basically unavoidable that some of the water would end up being cold, but not even that could ward off the tiredness for long. She ‘d also brought over a storage scroll with a change of clothes in it, specifically to have one less reason to have to go back home any sooner than necessary. Naruto showered too, but only after insisting she went first so that she'd get more hot water.   
  
Hinata sat on the somewhat beat-up, second-hand sofa with Naruto afterwards to talk about whatever came to mind, mainly stuff about their training that day, a little bit about if Sakura would be okay, and a round of brainstorming ideas for a combination jutsu they could do together. 

Hinata had no idea when she managed to fall asleep. On Naruto’s _lap,_ no less. But he didn’t complain or try to move... and he was so warm... and since he’d just showered too, the lingering smell of his shampoo was kind of relaxing. Plus, right before she went to sleep, she felt something rhythmically moving through her hair, over and over... and that was even _more_ relaxing, oddly enough, even though she usually wasn't a huge fan of being touched too suddenly.   
  
All Hinata knew was that she woke up to it being practically pitch black outside and Naruto peacefully snoring away with her… _and his hand was in her hair…_   
  
Hinata jolted upright so quickly that Naruto quickly woke up right after, scrambling into alertness.   
  
“Huh? What?! What’s going on?!” Naruto cried.   
  
“S-sorry, I just, I sort of fell asleep on you and now it’s past my curfew…” Hinata said, looking out of the window fretfully. “Father really isn’t going to like this…”   
  
“I’ll come with you and back you up, then!” Naruto said.   
  
“I don’t want to give him any more excuses not to like you…” Hinata replied.   
  
“That’s exactly why I’m doing it. He already hates me anyway, and I’m not scared of some stuffy bastard like him,” Naruto said, standing up and almost tripping over an uneven bit of carpet before Hinata turned on a small lamp.   
  
“O-okay, but just be careful not to say anything that’ll rile him up too much…” Hinata said. Once Naruto gave a quick nod of compliance, they were off.   
  
By time they’d arrived, they’d jointly agreed on a plan of Naruto’s to make Hinata look good with claims that she’d been helping Naruto with scrolls and lost track of time… only for that to end up unnecessary, as Hiashi appeared unreasonably calm   
  
But when Naruto recalled how Hinata’s tone had also been strangely, unreasonably calm when she’d been telling Sakura off… he wasn’t sure it was truly a good thing. Hiashi had, after all, been waiting for them outside personally.   
  
He didn’t even bother to hear the explanations they had prepared, just fixing them both with some flat, incalculable expression before speaking.   
  
“If you have the guts to come home late, then I suppose you have the guts to give me a better example of the progress you two are making. I’ll be talking with the Sandaime to give you a more challenging mission than whatever lowly riffraff you’ve done so far. Be prepared. Should you die, you have no one to blame but yourselves,” Hiashi said with an unsettlingly, almost _excessively_ neutral and even tone, before roughly leading Hinata into their estate by the wrist and then slamming the door.   
  
The last thing Naruto heard Hiashi say was an all too cordial “Goodnight, Uzumaki-san,”. Naruto winced at that much more than he did the door slamming.   
  
As much as Naruto had been itching to do a mission before, suddenly a good chunk of that confidence seemed to just drain away. For a few moments, he just stood there, feeling nothing but a cold, clammy numbness.   
  
_Was Hinata’s father..._ **_hoping_ ** _they’d die?_   
  
Some ways away, Sasuke woke from a fitful slumber as an involuntary shiver ran down his spine.   
  
_Why did he feel like something bad was going to happen soon?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I figured that from now on I’ll try to go a little easier on the length of chapters, so that I can get them out more regularly, somewhere along the lines of every two weeks. No promises on either front, though. I’ve got a lot of this planned out, but I’ve written on and off for over a decade and have never once managed to stick to promises of this nature.
> 
> And yes, this is still leading straight into Wave, I just decided to slightly spice up the reason why they’re going on this mission to start with.
> 
> Also, sorry again that this chapter really shits on Sakura, but I do still plan for her to improve. I just felt like no one really has narrative reasons to break her problems to her gently in-universe, and I didn’t want to sugarcoat her problems to make her look good because it would feel a bit forced and disingenuous.
> 
> I also fully believe that what she did here was a pretty reasonable extrapolation from canonical flaws, but I acknowledge that it may feel uncomfortable to see her partake in it, and that you might still feel it was unnecessary to show something so “ugly”.
> 
> Also, to be clear, any form of address along the lines of “last name + honorific” is not “genuinely” polite in this universe. Basically a headcanon I thought of to help reflect that this society isn’t quite precisely like any iteration of real Japan. Plus, I just really like how fittingly passive-aggressive the concept is for a Hyuuga to use.
> 
> Since they’re so much more used to first name basis compared to real Japan, and because ninja last names can have hostile connotations because of how they can be a clear way of gaining more awareness on the abilities and reputations of your enemies, it becomes something that loops back around to a form of ironic disrespect/thinly veiled hostility. It also comes off like a very backhanded attempt to “other” or “distance” someone from yourself. I imagine this isn’t always true for civilians, but that it still is for pretty much any Hidden Village civilian.
> 
> Rock Lee and Might Guy are basically still just exceptions on the grounds of their personal preferences and their names being sort of “foreign”.
> 
> On top of that, I don’t believe trying to make everything exactly 1-to-1 culturally is always worth it anyway, because it’s just safe to assume the Narutoverse had a lot of its own influences that would ultimately affect culture. (Right off the top of my head, there’s giant talking frogs, way more potentially man-eating wildlife, and they don’t live on a small island)


	5. Try To Keep Going

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Wave starts. A story is told, and a body grows cold...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tfw this gets longer than you thought and makes you look like a liar when it comes to how you said you would make chapters shorter.
> 
> I swear it was originally like half the length, but god, dialogue racks up words like nobody’s business. Then, once I was done, it just felt weirdly incomplete when I considered cutting it into two chapters.
> 
> Also, I decided to start using asterisks next to certain words or phrases to denote a change that I feel warrants further clarification.
> 
> So, whenever I make stuff different from now on, that should hopefully help make sure we’re on the same page.
> 
> Warning: Strong violence, mentions of vomiting, and the return of Kakashi being a shitty teacher.

Sasuke woke up the next day feeling worn out and kind of nauseous, having managed a grand total of maybe three very spread-out and inconsistent hours of sleep. The rest was robbed from him by nightmares and a general feeling of unplaceable anxiety.  
  
That wasn’t actually anything new, but given that the anxiety was a bit sharper and more unpleasantly gut-churning than usual, Sasuke couldn’t help but wonder what was different. Probably nothing but his brain being insufferable, but it wasn’t too outlandish for a ninja to have a vague sort of sixth sense for upcoming danger or trouble.  
  
When he approached the group for their usual training in their clearing, he was simultaneously irritated and secretly just a bit glad to see Hinata take notice of it almost right away.  
  
“Ah, Sasuke-kun… you look like you had a difficult night. I could help with that, if you want…” Hinata said quietly. “Gentle Fist can be used to stimulate someone’s energy levels…”  
  
Sasuke briefly warred silently with himself over admitting he could use help versus powering through just for the sake of looking self-sufficient, but he ultimately gave a small nod. At least she wasn’t asking for details.

“I have some tea blends I could bring you later, maybe that’d help too…” Hinata said. Sasuke just gave a noncommittal shrug.  
  
“U-um, I’m sorry, is that a yes or no?” Hinata asked.  
  
“Do what you want,” Sasuke replied shortly. Hinata just hesitantly nodded at that.  
  
At the very least, Hinata’s Gentle Fist really was reasonably helpful for sorting out Sasuke’s exhaustion, replacing it with a surge of energy even if it did have the side-effect of clearly feeling a bit jittery and “unnatural”, like it was just a rush of vigor clearly plastered over a deep-seated exhaustion.  
  
He didn’t think much of it when Hinata offhandedly mentioned that she often had to use it on herself, but he still felt a little twinge of… _something_ when Hinata quickly clammed up and Naruto still got worried.  
  
“You haven’t been sleeping well either, have you, Hinata-chan?” Naruto asked with a small frown.  
  
“I-I’m fine, really, it’s not a big deal!” Hinata replied.  
  
“You’re the one always asking if _I_ slept well! You still need to do it yourself too!” Naruto replied. “Is it too hard to sleep at home? You can come have sleepovers with me any time you want…” Naruto added on. He seemed to at least be a bit socially aware of the potential connotations of such an invitation though, since he suddenly shrank back a little and quickly tried to backpedal with “I-if you want to, that is, it’s not like you have to or anything!”  
  
Sasuke wasn’t even entirely sure why the twinge of _something_ spiked hot and unpleasant enough to make his left eye twitch when Hinata blushed in response and stammered out something about “thinking about it”.  
  
From what Sasuke could best tell from what an wreck of vague unpleasantness he tended to be… he felt like… he was upset that no one ever got that concerned about how _he_ was doing? And that Naruto was so much more upset over her when he didn’t sleep much either?  
  
Which was dumb, because he didn’t want anyone to be concerned anyway. He could handle himself. Why should they be concerned?  
  
“ _Because the whole clan’s gone, I live by myself, and it always seems like no one cares as long as I keep impressing them…”_ Inner Sasuke replied.  
  
Well, obviously, it was none of their business anyw-  
  
“ _Even all the girls who claim to ‘like’ me almost never ask how I’m feeling either, they just jump right to trying to date me or get in my space or something…”_ Inner Sasuke interjected. “ _And otherwise, they’re basically just pitying me…”_  
  
Sasuke had a sudden and somewhat unpleasant realization that Hinata was basically the _only_ person who actually made real attempts at asking how he was doing. Kakashi and Naruto never really did, as long as he didn’t seem obviously hurt in any way, they’d just cut right to whatever was relevant to that day’s plans. The closest Naruto ever came to it was basically because Hinata managed to wrangle it out of him.  
  
But why did he suddenly care so much? It wasn’t supposed to be a big deal. Besides, she only cared because she felt obligated as his team member. He wasn’t stupid. He hadn’t given her any other reason _to care._ It was all just polite professionalism.  
  
“ _That’s the problem…”_ Inner Sasuke said quietly. Sasuke vehemently denied that. There _was_ no problem! It was fine if things were detached like that! Preferable, actually! There was no need to be actual friends with Hinata!  
  
 _“But I want to…”_ the inner voice supplied. Sasuke internally huffed at that. _Why?!_ So she could bug him and trail him all day like she did with Naruto? So he’d be expected to coddle her and have to think of reassuring stuff to say whenever she was having her self-confidence issues? So he could just open himself up to more disappointment when she fucking die-  
  
Inner Sasuke latched onto that with an adamantium grip, and Sasuke was propelled down that rabbit hole of thought before he could stop himself.  
  
“ _You just admitted it’d be sad if she died,”_ Inner Sasuke said, almost smugly. “ _And in turn, you basically admitted you’re afraid of it,”_ _  
_ _  
_Sasuke just grunted. He was _not!_ It was just easier to not bother getting attached! He didn’t _need_ to know her any better! Her _or_ Naruto!  
  
“ _Aren’t you tired of this? Aren’t you?! Just say it. Just_ ** _say_** _that you’re lonely!”_ _  
_ _  
_No!  
 _  
_ _“Fine!_ ** _Itachi_** _wouldn’t either. He_ _chose to be alone. He chose to abandon and betray you. I guess you still just wanna be like_ ** _him_** _, then!”_ came the voice, far more worked up than usual.  
  
The self-accusation struck Sasuke cold.  
  
Slowly, painstakingly, while Naruto was gushing about the possibility of Hinata having a sleepover with him, Sasuke spoke.  
  
“...The… tea you said you’d bring to me later…” Sasuke said, almost stuttering. “...I suppose you’ll need my address for that…”  
  
“O-oh, of course! I just assumed we’d meet up here, but if you’re really okay with me coming to your house, that’s even better,” Hinata said, smiling gently.  
  
Sasuke internally fought off the persistent urge to change his mind and clarify that it wasn’t actually okay. She wouldn’t need to actually go inside his house anyway. It was fine. He knew Naruto would probably tag along, just because those two were hardly ever apart anymore, but Sasuke just had to hope he wouldn’t make things even more potentially uncomfortable than they already might become...  
  
The next day, sure enough, Hinata and Naruto showed up at Sasuke’s house, having somewhat uneasily traveled through street upon street of abandoned homes and businesses to get there.  
  
After some brief greetings, Hinata spoke. “Oh, Sasuke-kun, do you have pets?” Hinata asked curiously, noticing that there was a slightly crude but unmistakable doggy door.  
  
Sasuke tensed, electing to reply carefully. “...Not exactly. It’s just for strays that come and go. We’ll probably start going on longer and harder missions soon, so I didn’t want to get into the habit of keeping actual pets. There’s no one else around to watch them, after all.” Sasuke replied, realizing he was getting dragged into prolonged conversation but finding himself unable to stop it. He didn’t miss how both Naruto and Hinata also tensed slightly at the part about ‘longer and harder missions’, but Naruto was speaking again before he could question it.  
  
“Oh, did you name them?” Naruto asked. “Are any in there right now?! I wanna see!”  
  
Sasuke pursed his lips as he realized where exactly this was going. Before he could even try to claim none of them were around, there was a frazzled meow from behind him. He startled as if it were a bolt of lightning, and the cat responsible began rubbing against his legs, completely oblivious to any wrongdoing.  
  
The cat was a bit of an ugly thing, honestly, missing most of their right ear and having scraggly grey fur that stuck out in every direction, paired with almost creepy yellow eyes. It was clear Sasuke was telling the truth about them not really being a pet, considering how beat-up they generally looked. Either that, or Sasuke was secretly using the poor thing like a living feather duster and never bothering to clean it afterwards.  
  
Regardless, Naruto and Hinata reacted with joy at the little creature, delightedly bending down to pet the cat. Sasuke noted that the cat seemed to trust them immediately, much to his frustration, because that automatically gave them another reason not to leave.  
  
“You must take good care of this cat, if they’re this nice to people…” Hinata said softly.  
  
Sasuke just huffed at that. “He’s just weird. It’s not like he’s always this nice,” Sasuke replied.  
  
“So what’s his name?” Naruto asked, as the cat firmly rubbed its head up against his outstretched hand.  
  
“...Nekireki…” Sasuke almost whispered.  
  
“...Wait, is that just a pun where you slap ‘cat’ and ‘thunderclap’ together?! (*) ‘Cause he looks like he got hit by lightning?” Naruto blurted out in disbelief, as if he could hardly process that Sasuke would ever come up with something that silly.  
  
“Well, it… it wasn’t me! I found that on his collar he used to have, but then he lost it somehow, and then no one ever came to take him home, so…” Sasuke said, lying through his teeth. For his trouble, both Naruto and Hinata just looked at each other for a moment. For all of two seconds, Hinata seemed to be trying to silently tell Naruto to behave with just her eyes, but then they both just dissolved into desperately trying not to laugh.   
  
Sasuke just sharply exhaled in irritation. “...Well, stop standing around giggling and come in,” he said, somewhat defeated. Telling them to leave at that point would basically be admitting that he was acting defensive.  
  
Sasuke belatedly realized he should’ve cleaned up in a way that prioritized hiding things before they came, because there were all kinds of tell-tale things scattered about an otherwise rather neat and organized home.  
  
Number one was the book on ornithology he’d left on the living room table, and two was the closely related matter of a half-finished wooden birdhouse that was there too. Number three, once again related, was the pair of bird feeders that were each hanging on opposite ends of the front awning outside. Then there was what looked like a handmade cat climbing tower near the far window, and the little custom-made dog houses in the back, with the yard intentionally allowing for strays to get in and use them if the weather was bad.

Even in just the brief time it took for Hinata and Sasuke to get to the kitchen and for her to ask where he wanted her to leave the tea blends she brought, they saw two different spiders, one on the wall and one on the counter. Sasuke didn’t comment on them or make any effort to harm them, just idly watching them skitter along.  
  
There wasn’t much in the way of knick-knacks or art, besides a banner with the Uchiha clan symbol on one wall of the living room, and then a board on the opposite wall where it looked like Sasuke pinned up and collected various kinds of bird feathers.

Hinata silently wondered if Sasuke had perhaps cultivated the secret, quiet fondness for animals out of loneliness, but didn’t dare say it out loud, knowing that there was pretty much no way to put it that wasn’t going to be unintentionally insulting.  
  
She and Naruto also didn’t dare say anything about the lack of any family pictures.  
  
But there was something about the house that warmed her heart, despite the quiet bleakness that presented itself when you thought too hard about it. She unintentionally made Sasuke grimace slightly when he noticed how she was briefly looking at him with a gentle little smile, like he passed some kind of test he didn’t even know he was taking.  
  
Meanwhile, Hinata just silently basked in the comfort of knowing that no matter how Sasuke argued or acted out, his house in conjunction with all the training with him had let her amass enough evidence to know that he was well and truly a nice person deep down, if not outright actually a little endearingly dorky.   
  
In the kitchen, two orange cats and a small tortoiseshell kitten had realized that Sasuke had come home and ran out to greet him as well, moving between his legs in a careless way as they tried to bum free food off of him while he was in the kitchen, but still sticking close to him because they were a bit more wary of strangers than Nekireki.  
  
Naruto looked at the cats, then at Sasuke with an eager, anticipatory grin.  
  
“I’m not telling you what I named the rest,” Sasuke huffily told him, without Naruto even needing to say anything. He crossed his arms to really get the point across.  
  
“Aw, come on! Just one more! Promise I won’t laugh! No, wait, I’ll do you one better! I swear on all my ramen I won’t laugh, -ttebayo!” Naruto whined.  
  
“No. You’re lucky I even let you in here. Be a good guest, won’t you?” Sasuke gruffly asked.  
  
“We can leave any time you need us to… I know a trip to deliver tea isn’t exactly grounds to intrude on you like this…” Hinata said softly.  
  
Somehow, despite the fact that she said that, Sasuke just gave a little grunt of acknowledgement… and then they ended up just… _there,_ all day long.  
  
Hinata and Naruto helped Sasuke make lunch, then even dinner. Hinata would gently cajole them into playing rock paper scissors instead of having shouting matches whenever they were disagreeing about culinary decisions, but Sasuke at least quietly appreciated how she agreed with him that he should get decision-making privileges in some areas because it was his house and his food. Eventually, they managed to agree on curry. It kind of had too much meat and salt in it for Sasuke’s liking, but somehow it was good regardless. They all ate at the dining room table, with Naruto and Hinata steadily wheedling information out of Sasuke when it came to the woodworking supplies he’d left out on it, and they did their training in his yard.  
  
It was to the point Hinata even fell asleep on his couch, and he couldn’t for the life of him tell her to get up and leave. It was no secret that she was always tired, but always trying to hide her yawns and pretend she wasn’t, and he could relate to that feeling all too well.  
  
It was such a strange feeling, watching her sleep there while Naruto sat close by, quietly practicing hand-sign speed drills so he’d have something to do without waking her and without having to be far from her. Sasuke felt like he was about to choke on a mouthful of metaphorical soup that he wasn’t supposed to be having, like when he used to steal bits of dinner before his mother was done cooking. It was all so rich, enticing, reassuring, and warm in the moment, but he felt like the indulgence would become his undoing at literally any moment. Like the sky would rip open, and the universe would punish him for being a weak-hearted fool at any moment.  
  
But then, Naruto suddenly interrupted the silence with oddly low, quiet speech.  
  
“Y’know, I laughed at you for what you named that cat, so laugh at this all you want, but I have something important to say, so listen up,” Naruto spoke, his voice unusually even and serious. He gave things a moment to make sure Sasuke was listening. “Hinata-chan’s dad said he’s gonna talk to Hokage-jiji and get us a C-Rank mission, but the thing is…” Naruto took a deep breath, and then continued. “I’m… scared. I used to be so excited about doing a C-Rank, but the thing is… he didn’t say that to be nice. He isn’t doing us a favor. He’s hoping we mess up. He’s hoping we _suffer;_ that his _own daughter_ _suffers,”_ Naruto says. “ I could _tell._ How messed up is that?! There’s gonna be something off about this mission. I just know it.”  
  
Sasuke would’ve been inclined to brush Naruto’s words off… But if there was one thing he knew about Naruto, it was that Naruto absolutely hated admitting to being scared. If he’d been willing to do that, then he had to feel that what he was saying wasn’t hyperbolic in the least.  
  
“It’s not just the mission itself, it’s the idea… that Hinata-chan has to deal with someone like him, day in and day out…” Naruto quietly continued. “It’s not fair. It’s really not fair at all…”  
  
Honestly, that surprised Sasuke, as much as he tried to hide it. Someone who’d never had a family could be easily expected to take a more selfish route and disregard what Hinata’s parents were like, only zeroing in on the fact that she had them and they didn’t… he’d know, because that was more or less how he’d silently felt about things at first. But...  
  
Sasuke had been thinking about things over the past two and a half months. Namely, wondering where all his supposed _evidence_ that it was better to do everything alone was. He hated to admit it, but… he’d made more tangible progress with his training in the last month and a half since he’d decided to join Naruto and Hinata in their training than he had over three entire years as an Academy student, maybe even four. It was actually a carefully guarded secret of his that he knew he must’ve already unlocked the Sharingan, but for whatever reason, couldn’t reawaken it. He hadn’t seen direct proof, but his memory of the feeling in his eyes and all the following research he did pretty much confirmed that the massacre was traumatic enough to unlock it.  
  
So that just begged the question yet again: Where the hell was the _proof_ that figuring everything out himself was better? The instant Naruto made a real friend, the guy managed to pull shadow clones and two elements out of his ass! The instant Sasuke pulled his head out of his ass long enough to work with Hinata, he unlocked Raiton. She helped him improve his Katon, too, along with learning to walk on trees and water. Hell, even being in competition with Naruto pushed him harder than what he’d probably do alone.  
  
Back then, after the massacre… It was another carefully guarded secret of his that he was previously on track to graduate early, but then just ended up with such deep mental wounds that he only managed to do it with everyone else.(**) That everything he did in front of other students was a desperate bid to not fall too far behind Itachi, and not to show vulnerability or make it obvious that he struggled to get out of bed in the morning. He’d even found out from some of the books on the human mind he’d read that what’d happened to him had apparently been such a psychological blow that it’d probably impeded the rate at which his chakra pathways developed for years. In short, as strong as everyone _thought_ he was, he was actually supposed to already be _even stronger._ Stewing in anger and sorrow hadn’t helped at all.   
  
Itachi was just a fucking _liar._

That wasn’t to say anger, hatred, and sorrow were simply useless emotions that he could discard. It was just becoming obvious that they weren’t ever the be-all-end-all that Itachi had claimed.  
  
As much of a soft little bitch as Inner Sasuke was, Sasuke at least knew that his goal wasn’t just to be a kindhearted little contrarian whenever Sasuke was trying to be angry.   
  
His goal was to **_not be Itachi_ ** and **_not_ **do what he said.

So, maybe it was high time he put a little more effort into that.  
  
The first step to dealing with anything uncomfortable but ultimately desirable was just _accepting_ that it’d be uncomfortable at first, instead of constantly searching for ways to avoid confronting it.

With that in mind, he figured that even if he couldn’t exactly bring himself to be the friendliest guy in the world, being jealous of Hinata was ultimately pointless, if not outright presumptuous, since it was clear he’d been jealous of something he never truly understood all the layers of in the first place.  
  
He never really did bother to respond to Naruto. Naruto didn’t actually seem to mind, he only seemed to have spoken at all as a mixture of a vent and a heads up to Sasuke.  
  
Things were oddly quiet from then on, probably the quietest things had pretty much ever been with Sasuke and Naruto in the same place at the same time. Sasuke found it a little unnerving to see Naruto so quiet for once, but it soon became oddly… almost relaxing. Sasuke made some of the tea Hinata brought, half to be polite and half out of curiosity, surprised to note that it was quite good. A little too floral, but still good.

Naruto woke Hinata up so that they could leave together after a little while, but oddly, Sasuke didn’t feel particularly relieved to watch them go. A couple of the cats were still around, and he was at least grateful for that, because without them, he was sure that the sudden feeling of crushing emptiness in the house would be unbearable, rather than just a mild, nagging discomfort.  
  
It was like some unspoken dam broke, in the following days. Hiashi didn’t immediately make his move regarding the C-Rank mission, undoubtedly waiting to meticulously pick out just the right one and let the suspense and fear build and fester for Team 7. Over the course of those days, one way or another, Team 7 found themselves at Sasuke’s house more often than not. There were a couple of days where they didn’t, but on others he’d even go so far as invent excuses for them to end up there, making it sound practical so they wouldn’t realize it was mainly about the company. Well, that and another thing.  
  
For Sasuke, it was an experiment of sorts. He’d have the decency to be a bit ashamed to admit it if he were hypothetically asked, but he’d still be honest about it. He wanted to test out the boundaries of what he was comfortable with. It was a chance to see if he could prove Itachi wrong. When he thought about it, of _course_ Itachi would want him trying to kill him all by himself, recklessly trying to charge in and somehow beat him one-on-one with such a big age gap between them…. And the fact that even if Itachi were to somehow magically de-age back to his twelve year old self, he’d _still_ be miles beyond Sasuke as he currently was. The damn man became a freaking _chuunin_ when he was only 10. He was practically _perfect,_ and Sasuke was… Sasuke was...  
  
No matter. As uncomfortable and annoying as it was, Sasuke only saw one actual realistic avenue. He basically had to train himself to get along with his teammates better, because the hard truth was that being alone had basically proven itself inferior even in a practical, results-oriented respect… Not that he didn’t secretly appreciate the fact that he finally had logical reasons to feel that companionship was a good option, but he also silently bemoaned the fact that it felt a bit like giving up, to finally admit to himself that trying to do everything alone would probably just get him killed.  
  
He’d still have to do most of the fighting when it was time, though. And get the last blow in. That was non-negotiable. There was no way he was going to make them shoulder the full responsibility of killing his brother.  
  
With that in mind, the days passed in an uneasy peace.

* * *

The team finally got the C-Rank after about eight days. On the surface, Sasuke didn’t know why it was even a big deal. It was just some mission to escort some foreign guy building a bridge from a neighboring country to the Land of Fire. Was this really the Hyuuga head’s big, bad, horrible test?  
  
The guy they were supposed to be helping was some drunk jerk too, immediately insulting all three of them, and Naruto in particular. Sasuke caught the way Hinata silently clenched her fists as Naruto began loudly complaining and trying to refute the man, but Sasuke didn’t say anything else. Too much trouble, even if the man’s complaints were kind of uncalled for. He’d rather just find out what they were supposed to do and do it without all this extra whining and screwing around.  
  
Still, Hinata pored over the details of the mission with a great intensity, and even had the courage to ask follow-up questions, given that Iruka was there.  
  
Sasuke couldn’t help but notice their client seeming to get a bit stiff and slightly fidgety as Hinata’s questions continued, before he finally loudly interrupted with something about getting a move-on. Regardless, they had gotten some valuable information from Hinata’s questioning.  
  
Apparently, the guy was from Wave, which was a poor country all but completely controlled by a man named Gato. The country was isolated and poor enough that it also didn’t have any ninja or samurai, not even the usual retinue of samurai charged with protecting the daimyo (***). That much questioning went by without a hitch.  
  
It was when Hinata started going into the implications that their client Tazuna started acting kind of weird.  
  
“...If Tazuna-san is building a bridge for a country controlled by such a rich and powerful man, and completing it would likely be against that man’s best interests… isn’t it possible that Tazuna-san himself may be up against some particularly powerful forces? That worries me a bit...” Hinata said. “With that much money, you could hire more than just common underlings…”  
  
“Well, I don’t know about all that!” Tazuna laughed. “Gato’s very cautious, after all… I highly doubt he’d hire anyone powerful enough to threaten his authority or sneak past his guard. Lighten up, won’tcha? You’re trained for all this kinda thing, right?” Tazuna said.  
  
Even Kakashi’s exposed eye narrowed briefly at that, but before any of them could make any further decisions, Hiruzen spoke up… Oddly enough, Sasuke could’ve sworn he looked a little nervous too, for a split second.   
  
“Well. I won’t say that Hinata-san has no reason to worry, but I’ll leave it up to a vote amongst your team,” Hiruzen said.  
  
Quickly, Hinata voted not to go, followed by Naruto, much to Sasuke’s surprise… but as much as the situation actually was looking a little suspicious… Sasuke didn’t have time to be wasting in the village forever, and if he voted not to go, the Hokage might look at it as their team being too cowardly for higher missions, and they’d be majorly set back in that regard for a while.  
.  
With that, Sasuke reluctantly voted to go. With an overly-casual shrug and a refusal to even bother explaining his thought process, Kakashi voted for them to go as well. Really, either way, everything actually hinged on his vote alone anyway. Naruto and Hinata exchanged a look that Sasuke didn’t quite know the meaning of, beyond the fact that it couldn’t be anything good. Hinata was clenching her fists yet again.  
  
It wasn’t long before they’d all headed off to prepare, and Tazuna was off to wait for them near the village limits. As soon as they’d all left, Hiashi appeared in a burst of smoke. Iruka grit his teeth, but ultimately bit his tongue.  
  
“So they accepted the mission?” Hiashi said quietly.  
  
“Yes. Your daughter’s more perceptive than I thought, but ultimately she was overruled,” Hiruzen said.  
  
“Good.”  
  
“Hiashi-san… was this really wise? It’s a rather suspicious mission for a C-Rank. Even Hinata was aware of that. If we lose the village’s jinchuuriki, then…” Hiruzen said quietly.  
  
“We won’t. But if they fail, is that not proof enough that you’ve lost this little wager of ours, Hokage-sama?” Hiashi said with just a tiny smirk. Hiruzen was quiet, merely steepling his hands up to his face and quietly sighing.  
  
So much for no interference.  
  
From a short distance away, Iruka did his very best not to give Hiashi the stink-eye before the man vanished in a blur.

* * *

  
Soon, the group was all set to go. But as beautiful as the lands around Konoha were, Hinata just couldn’t quite bring herself to relax.  
  
Hinata had picked up a bit more knowledge of both Hyuuga-related and general sealwork over the course of all the late nights staying up and the evenings spent with Naruto, some of the most subtle but important things being a seal to moderately reinforce the strength of clothing(****), and a genjutsu seal, both hidden within a waterproof armband beneath her clothes. The genjutsu was designed to hide the tell-tale bulging veins of Byakugan usage. Of course, the more straightforward option would simply be a mask, but that was kind of suspicious, and it wasn’t like masks were unbreakable.  
  
Besides, the seal was a bit more flexible, as she’d managed to prepare it so that it could also give her completely normal-looking eyes in a color of her choice. Unlike a Henge, it also wouldn’t break until the seal was out of chakra, and she could recharge the seal at any time. Even if she couldn’t, the seal didn’t use much chakra anyway, and she’d already spent plenty of time charging it over the course of the last couple of weeks, just in case. Naruto and Sasuke had also received copies of the seals for making clothes stronger.  
  
It was kind of nice to have the extra layer of anonymity and security, considering how much people wanted the Byakugan for themselves, but it made her a little tense wondering if anyone would ever question her on choosing to make her disguised eyes the same color as Naruto’s. She hadn’t exactly done it consciously, at least not at first. It was just… They were the first ones that came to mind, and they were more comforting than any other color she could think of…  
  
Naruto telling her that it looked good may or may not have had something to do with it too, as much as she didn’t want to admit it. Honestly, she was trying to get over him, romantically speaking. It just seemed like it’d make things easier and less stressful, and being his best friend was already plenty rewarding... but it was basically impossible to get over him when she was spending every day around him. She’d hoped that would work to her advantage somehow; that she’d see enough of him that it would take him off of his pedestal and help her crush wear off, but it seemed like it was mostly the opposite. She _was_ becoming more aware of Naruto’s faults, but she was only growing more fond of him as her image of him broadend. He could be loud, crass, short-tempered, messy, jealous, and a bit selfish, but… In turn, he was so caring, passionate, determined, and devoted… and it was the little things too. The sound of his laugh, the way he smiled, the dumb jokes he made, the way he’d stick up for her, the way he’d immediately try his best to be quiet for her if she was tired or she had something to say... And he just wouldn’t stop being so… so _adorable...._  
  
Hinata had also been the one at the forefront of making sure they packed everything they needed. Without realizing, in the process of being trained to crack seals and secretly training herself to learn how to make her special diary and get more privacy in general, she’d become the team member most knowledgeable about seals. Nothing wildly advanced, but storage seals were well within her ability.  
  
For once, being an anxious person with a strict upbringing was actually kind of useful in the sense that it made her meticulous about keeping things in order.  
  
It also meant that they didn’t need to rely so heavily on crappy rations and she could just bring some actual serviceable food in seals designed to put it in stasis. She’d also bought a backup scroll-expanded water flask, which had enough extra capacity that it’d make for easy drinking or cooking water. Besides that, there were plenty of the essential tools and the miscellaneous things that might help them, even some military ration pills for emergencies. She’d even made sure to follow a very specific but easily grasped organizational system.  
  
She wasn’t exactly looking for praise for something so minor, but it still kind of stung when Kakashi didn’t really seem to notice or care about the effort she put into it. Even after over two and a half months, there was still some kind of wall between him and the rest of them, as much as he tried to act casual.  
  
Training with him always felt… off. Forced, almost. A little like training with her family, but not so much cold as blithely indifferent. Training with Naruto and Sasuke, or Iruka-sensei when he had time, that was what felt right. She could try to just be herself then. Do what she wanted to do, study and practice what she wanted without feeling like it was some kind of crime.

Hinata did her best to take her mind off of that for a while as they traveled. Every once in a while, she would discretely activate her Byakugan and take a look around, but it wasn’t something she could do non-stop with the current level of strength she had, and it was best not to strain her eyes so much before anything bad had even actually happened.  
  
It was just her luck that one of the times she decided to rest the Byakugan just so happened to be right as the group passed an unusual puddle.   
  
Although she did comment on it to Naruto, it wasn’t alarm, since her Byakugan wasn’t active to notice the fact that it was chock-full of chakra. Just mild confusion as to why there would be a puddle when it hadn’t rained in-  
  
Before Hinata could even process what was happening, two ninjas from behind suddenly ran up and attacked, seemingly killing Kakashi through full-body constriction with a chain… but as Hinata reflexively activated her Byakugan, she could see that Kakashi hadn’t truly died. Moreover, the enemies didn’t notice that she’d done it. They charged towards her and Naruto next, only to be briefly thwarted by Sasuke, who got their shared chain stuck to a tree with a series of artful maneuvers. Unfortunately, from there, one charged towards Naruto, and the other towards Tazuna.  
  
Honestly, as soon as Hinata saw one coming for Naruto, she could not have possibly cared any less about Tazuna.  
  
 _Not Naruto._ _  
__  
_**_Anyone_ ** _but Naruto!_ _  
__  
__No! No!_ **_Never!_ ** _You_ **_can’t!_ ** **_  
_** **_  
_** **_I won’t let you!_ **  
  
Her heart immediately seemed to beat six times faster, and everything became a sort of blur as Naruto got to the ground… and Hinata leapt forward…  
  
When she regained her senses, the man had slashed at one of her arms, but luckily her thick hoodie with the seal reinforcement she was wearing had taken the damage decently well, getting a healthy slashing but not actually letting the weapon get all the way through. It was a boon of thick clothing, since that particular seal and most kinds of regular fabric could both only handle a certain density of chakra per unit area, effectively meaning that thinner clothes imposed stricter limitations.  
  
Meanwhile, the man was already slumping to the ground, spasming and freely coughing up thick spurts of blood before going still and lifeless. Hinata began to tremble as her Byakugan took in the unmistakable sight of his chakra steadily voiding his body like a balloon with a serious leak, confirming what she’d just done. The second enemy ninja was distracted long enough to look back in abject shock, going bug-eyed just before Kakashi suddenly slammed into him and took him into a powerful chokehold.  
  
As things settled, for once, Kakashi actually looked properly worried.  
  
“Hinata…” he started, reaching out to her with his free hand, but she immediately jerked away, still trembling violently as she instead opted to cling to Naruto for dear life.  
  
Kakashi swallowed thickly, the reality of the situation setting in.  
  
She’d been right.   
  
All along, she’d been right to be so cautious. She’d been right to not trust the situation at face value.  
  
And because of his carelessness, she’d been forced to take matters into her own hands, in the worst possible way.   
  
“I’m sorry…” Hinata said in a muffled voice, as her voice steadily progressed to a sob. “I’m sorry… I’m so sorry… I’m sorry…I j-just… I… I’m _sorry_ ...” her voice trailed off into clumsy, inelegant blubbering from there.   
  
Once again, much like how it’d been over two months ago, Kakashi found Naruto glaring at him like he was going to skin him alive. Ah. That was right. Naruto had supported her. Naruto had voted not to go on the mission too, even when Kakashi was sure he must’ve been bursting to leave the village and stop doing such menial work.

Kakashi was pretty sure the only reason he wasn’t being verbally torn a new one was that Naruto was too focused on trying to comfort Hinata, so he awkwardly busied himself with tying the still-living one against a tree and making sure he couldn’t get loose. For good measure, he also frisked him for any extra supplies that might be useful.  
  
Tazuna was stiff as a board, pale and awkward in the face of what’d just happened. It didn’t help that Sasuke’s gaze was practically boring a hole into him.  
  
Finally, after a lot of shushing and hair-stroking from Naruto, Hinata spoke.  
  
“I want to bury him,” she said, voice tiny and broken. It was only heard at all because there was scarcely any other sound but that of the wind.  
  
“I can help you with tha-” Kakashi started, trying to placate her, but her head snapped towards him, and her tone was icy when she spoke next.  
  
“ ** _I_** want to bury him,” Hinata repeated, the emphasis and body language making it very clear what she meant.   
  
“ _I don’t want your help, because this is your fucking fault in the first place,”_ was the unspoken message Kakashi received.  
  
It was a dreary affair. It also stopped their progress dead for hours, but Kakashi wasn’t about to complain. He’d ruined enough already, so he temporarily busied himself questioning the remaining enemy nin.  
  
Hinata wouldn’t tolerate anyone but Naruto’s presence as she went about her solemn duty, quietly vomiting a couple of times once it came time to handle the body. She could see what happened clearly with the Byakugan, and she immediately wished she didn’t know. She’d hit him in the chest with such force that she’d essentially pulped his heart and shredded his lungs, all without actually breaking the skin.  
  
Hinata was silent and stone-faced as she messily dug, using only a small spade she’d brought in the event of needing to set underground traps. Not… the thing she was _actually_ doing with it. The only upside was that at least she could strategically reinforce her arms and shoulders with chakra to make the process faster than otherwise possible, but it was still a truly arduous affair.

There was just one phrase she steadily repeated like a mantra as she did it, no matter what Naruto tried to say to her.  
  
“I’m sorry.”

The night was solemn after that. Kakashi had apparently discovered that the two enemy ninja were from Mist Village, and questioned Tazuna about it. They set up camp, and Hinata briefly stiffened where she sat when she overheard Kakashi responding to Tazuna’s question of why he’d left them to handle the attack first with a simple admission that he was apparently just _waiting to see who they were targeting._ _  
__  
__“So that’s how much I mean to you… You’d put me through something like that for such a simple reason… I see…”_ Hinata thought to herself, hardly even able to be happy about the fact that Naruto was comfortingly nuzzled against her. She’d thought that just maybe, she was just being paranoid and insecure about believing that Kakashi hated her, but well, there was a hefty chunk of new evidence right there.

Kakashi tried to call off the mission then, but there was a sudden rush of indignation, deep within Hinata’s core.  
  
“We’re still doing this,” Hinata said icily, much to everyone’s surprise.  
  
“Hinata-chan…” Naruto started. “What are you doing?”  
  
“Kakashi-sensei, you said we’re doing it. This was _your_ decision. Please don’t back out just because you _pity_ me.” Hinata said.  
  
“Hinata, it’s just… I thought you wanted…” Kakashi said quietly.  
  
“It doesn’t matter what I want. The mission is what matters. Isn’t that what you were essentially trying to say before?” Hinata said. “After all… those who break the rules are scum…”  
  
His cavalier, unexplained vote to do the mission without even bothering to talk to Hinata or Naruto any further about it… Kakashi cringed just slightly. Of course that was what she’d take away from it.  
  
He couldn’t even really refute it. She was more or less right, wasn’t she?  
  
“Well-” he started, grasping for straws against his own saying. “This mission doesn’t exactly follow the rules to start with…”  
  
“I’m going to look bad if I turn back now,” Hinata replied simply. And that was what he wanted, she was increasingly sure. He wanted her to look like some hysterical little coward who begged him to make up some sob story about the mission being a B-Rank so that she could go home and cry to mommy, nevermind that her mom only gave a shit about her when it was convenient to. He wanted Father to be mad at her, to have new reasons to punish her. He wanted to give everyone proof she couldn’t handle a real mission. “Father will be upset.”  
  
Kakashi’s stomach turned slightly at the implications of a reasoning like that, but he eventually relented.

* * *

  
A rotating overnight watch was set up, but it got to a point where both Hinata and Sasuke found themselves awake at the same time, neither being the type to sleep easily.  
  
There was an awkward pause for a while, but eventually, Sasuke spoke first, as they both squatted in a tall tree to survey the landscape.  
  
“I’m sorry I voted against you,” Sasuke said, plainly and quietly. “To tell the truth, I had a bad feeling about this mission too… But I was too hung up on trying to seem strong…”  
  
“That’s okay,” Hinata replied, although Sasuke swore he could feel a hint of _“It’s not, but I appreciate the attempt.”  
  
_ “Also… I never apologized for what I said to you before we became a team… back when I made you talk to Naruto…” Sasuke said.  
  
“No, really, that’s okay!” Hinata said, a bit more emotionally and truthfully that time. “I… it’s what I’d wanted to do for a long time, but I just never worked up the nerve until you did that. I guess… I should be thankful, if anything,”   
  
Sasuke just nodded slowly, not sure if he really believed she should be thankful, but his mind was already centering itself on a different topic that he didn’t know how to breach.  
  
In a strange twist of irony, Hinata had been the first genin on their team to kill. Maybe even the first genin to kill in their whole graduating class. Sasuke couldn’t believe it, but at the same time, he kind of could. Something about Naruto drew something _else_ out of Hinata. He’d already seen it with how she handled Sakura. That, and how he was pretty sure they’d _stolen_ most of their information on ninjutsu and fuinjutsu.   
  
It was a colder, angrier, more paranoid and conniving side of her. The side of her that would do _anything_ for Naruto. The side of her that helped motivate her to train for hours on end. It was braver, stronger, but all the more dangerous.  
  
Sasuke knew it would be stupid to say something along the lines of “are you okay?” Naruto had tried that kind of thing already and Hinata had barely gone into her feelings at all. Plus, it was blindingly obvious that she wasn’t okay. She wasn’t ready to see murder victims as just the unfortunate result of her line of work. For all the desperation to protect someone she loved, she knew damn well she’d killed an actual person. Any kind of “you did the right thing” talk also just felt like a platitude, because in all honesty, he doubted it was truly an absolute necessity to kill that man. At the same time, he wasn’t condemning her for it. She’d been afraid, and she’d had to choose what action to take in the space of a split second. It’d protected Naruto, but there was still no point in glorifying it. No point in trying to downplay it into “not your fault” either. Hinata was the kind of person who blamed herself for things left and right.  
  
Sasuke took a deep breath, deciding to try a different approach. “Do you… want to talk about the fight earlier?” he said quietly. “I know we’re probably not what you’d call friends, and you’d probably rather talk to Naruto, so feel free to say no, but…” Sasuke trailed off, only for Hinata to respond.  
  
“Actually… it’s kind of because I like Naruto-kun so much that this is actually harder to talk to him about…” Hinata admitted. When Sasuke’s confused silence was all she was met with, she elaborated. “It’s… it’s a little silly, I know, but I just… Even though I’m a ninja, I don’t want people I care about to think I’m this kind of person… I… now Naruto-kun has even more evidence that I’m not actually very nice. He knows that no matter how nice I try to be, I’m still… someone who _kills._ Someone aggressive and mean and angry… and… just… not nice to be around…”  
  
“...” Sasuke didn’t quite know what to say. Hinata quietly kept going..  
  
“I wasn’t even actually sad about that man directly. Not at first. It kind of… hit me later, but… even then, it was weird. Even now, I’m more… guilty that I’m not sad enough. Upset that Naruto-kun had to see it happen right in front of him. Honestly, it was… sort of a relief that he died. I know that’s really awful, but I couldn’t help but have my first thought just be ‘Good, now he’ll never hurt Naruto-kun again’. “ Hinata continued. “And I even thought… Right when he was attacking, I thought ‘Anyone but Naruto-kun’! How could I possibly be that selfish?! A nice person wouldn’t ever think like that, would they?! But if I’m not a nice person, what am I?!” 

“Someone who wants to protect her friends no matter what,” Sasuke replies. He figures it’s not outright glorification if he simply focuses on that. “I’m not going to pretend like killing is no big deal, but… it doesn’t automatically mean you’re some kind of heartless savage. Sometimes it’s just… what ends up happening,”

Hinata calmed a little at that, but not too much. “I could’ve tried harder, though. I could’ve avoided it. There were so many other ways to not get Naruto-kun hurt but not kill that man, either…”  
  
“...You know what? Tell me a story,” Sasuke replied, after a moment of thought.  
  
“Wh… I’m sorry, I don’t quite follow…” Hinata responded after a brief pause.  
  
“Exactly. I said that out of nowhere specifically to get you confused. If you’re confused, you aren’t able to think about that other stuff so hard. If you tell a story, you’re thinking about that stuff even less. So. Tell me a story,” Sasuke said.  
  
“Are you sure this’ll…”  
  
“You don’t have to, but… I do it. With the cats, or sometimes a dog, or some birds… I just… start telling a story. It makes me focus on something else. It doesn’t even have to make sense. It can be whatever dumb bullshit you want, as long as it means you aren’t so hung up on spiraling into what-ifs. What happened, happened. It’s never un-happening. You have to find a way to live with it or else it literally starts to drive you crazy,” Sasuke said.  
  
“Well… I… would you like to hear about the first human to have a Byakugan?” Hinata asked. “It’s a legend, and some parts of it honestly sound rather silly, but… you know. You said this stuff can be dumb if I want,” Hinata carried on.  
  
“Alright,” Sasuke said, with a small nod.  
  
“So, first off, I can’t actually start with the man. I have to start with the guardian lions,” Hinata said quietly, before taking a deep breath.   
  
“One day, ages and ages ago, in the middle of a great expanse of plains, a massive chasm suddenly appeared. So big it could swallow hills and mountains, so deep and jagged that most of what fell into it died. But… there were creatures that _did_ survive, after all. A massive pride of proud, proud lions,” Hinata said.  
  
Sasuke was still silent, but he seemed to already be enraptured, so she continued. “They were not nearly such wise or powerful creatures back then, but even then, they could think enough to still be enraged at the indignity. They’d been proud creatures, and now they’d quite literally fallen from grace. They didn’t know how to get out in the slightest. They tried for days to climb rocks and bits of fallen wood from sparse trees, but not a single thing worked. They’d fallen so, so incredibly deep that even their feline eyes could hardly see a thing, and they had to eat whatever prey had fallen in and died. Even when everything began to rot, and they had to endure the horrors of a rotten, filthy, inescapable abyss.” Hinata continued.  
  
“They could still just barely see the sun, but they could scarcely see the moon at all, unless it was a night where it was full. They were all battered, exhausted, and sick. Just about all of them had been injured by the fall, and the prey that’d fallen was growing more rancid by the day. Some mouthfuls of flesh were more maggot than meat. It wasn’t long before they had to start with cannibalism. But there were… two cubs. Brother and sister. Shikuro, Shishiro. Their mother had previously had trouble conceiving, and they’d been born with white fur, so the lions supposed that meant that they were gifts from the moon itself. So, it was planned they would be the first to be sacrificed. Even the kinder lions agreed. In death, those cubs would return to the moon. They would be free of that horrible, rotten abyss.” Hinata said, her voice low and careful, very deliberate, trying to avoid stuttering whenever possible.  
  
Sasuke listened closely still, even scooting a bit closer. Hinata’s story kept going.  
  
“But at the last moment… their mother got in the way, unable to accept the sacrifice… and she was struck down. The two cubs thought that perhaps, if they were truly gifts from the moon… Perhaps the moon, just this once, would listen if they cried. So they did. As lions converged, they cried, cried, cried until their tiny throats were raw, until the other lions had begun to pull them apart, rip them to shreds…” Hinata stopped and took another deep, halting breath.  
  
“And the moon heard. The moon saw, when she gazed down deep into that abyss, focusing all of her light there. And what it saw was so horrible, so vile, so desperate and wretched, that she began to weep. Its tears were no small thing. A great deluge filled the vast chasm. All the lions drowned, except for the two cubs. The moon steadied the great rushing flow of water in that chasm just enough that they managed to find shelter atop a boulder. They were exhausted and sore, half mauled to death, but the moon spoke to them quietly. The water had washed them clean of blood and healed them just enough to live. She said that if they drank her tears, and trusted each other as if they were one being, they would survive,” Hinata said quietly.  
  
“So they did. They grew up together, drinking and swimming in the moon’s tears, and in the sediment in the water, and the remaining blood and essence of their fallen kin… and it changed them. So deep in the earth they were, so many times did they drink it in, it changed their very bodies. Their claws became sharper than swords and harder than any armor. For the sister, they shone bronze, and for the brother, they were gold. The brother’s fur became a resplendent, shining white, and the sister’s a lustrous silver. Their flesh became like living stone, and their eyes became like the moon… But even with all that, they were unbearably lonely. There was not a single other living thing left in that abyss. Only two siblings against an endless dark,” Hinata somberly continued.  
  
“...At least they have each other…” Sasuke said. There was something unexpectedly quiet and somber in his tone too. Hinata just frowned slightly before continuing.  
  
“After a while, they decided there was nothing left to do but climb out. The earth had begun to do their bidding, when they focused hard enough, but that alone wasn’t enough to make it easy. Without realizing it, they’d developed the ability to use chakra. The problem was, the abyssal chasm was preposterously deep, and they were still mortal creatures after this whole ordeal. Regardless, it’s just as you said. They still had each other. So, they began to climb. And climb. And climb. Slowly but surely, bit by bit, using all the strength they had. The further they climbed, the further away they were from the moon water that’d been sustaining them. There came a point where descending to drink was such a lengthy ordeal it was no longer even worth it. By time they climbed back to wherever they were, they were already thirsty again. Such was the immensity of the chasm’s depth,” Hinata continued, voice quieter but somehow clearer than ever, as if she’d hit a stride, and knew exactly how much volume to use.  
  
“There came a point where even with their power, even with all they’d grown, they still collapsed upon the latest stone step they’d created, hardly able to go further. Panting, vision swimming, Shikuro made an incredibly difficult decision,” Hinata said quietly, before a dramatic pause. Sasuke even seemed to tense slightly.   
  
“To her brother… she offered her flesh and bone. She would become one last meal for him, and her blood would become one last drink. With her sacrifice, he would finally know the surface,” Hinata said quietly. Sasuke appeared genuinely stricken, fidgeting somewhat uncomfortably.  
  
“He… he can’t be okay with that… Neither of them can! What kind of story is this?!” Sasuke asked, his whisper a quiet hiss.  
  
“It’s okay. It’s not quite what you expect,” Hinata said quietly, before continuing. “Of course, he didn’t accept that. He could never appreciate the surface properly if he had to carry such a horrific burden with him. So, thinking, Shikuro realized that she could see Shishiro’s soul, resting within him. At the same time, her brother gazed upon hers. Thinking as one being, they came to the same conclusion. Rather than her flesh, Shikuro would bestow her very soul upon Shishiro. In one slow, combined motion, Shikuro would exhale the entirety of her soul, and Shishiro would inhale it,” Hinata said quietly, taking a deep breath herself. 

“A breath of death, and a breath of life. At this point, the moment this was done, the moment Shikuro’s soul radiated from Shishiro’s lungs to his entire being… they were truly and literally one. Two souls in one body. No longer Shikuro and Shishiro. Shishi-no-kami, the complete being, the progenitor lion, took the lifeless body of their feminine half upon their back, and never again did they have trouble ascending from the abyss.” Hinata continued.  
  
“At the top, finally exposed to the open air of the surface, Shishi buried Shikuro’s former body. Where it was laid to rest, life spread in staggering abundance. Rains were drawn in, and once again, the moon wept. But this time, they were gentle tears. Tears of bittersweet joy. And so, it wasn’t long before this verdant place attracted man,” Hinata said quietly.  
  
“So we’re _finally_ getting to the _actual human?”_ Sasuke asked. “About time.”  
  
Hinata just laughed softly. Sasuke distantly noted that he didn’t hear Hinata openly laugh all that often, only seldom with Naruto, and that it was a surprisingly nice sound. “Yes, Sasuke-kun. About time,” Hinata said quietly, before continuing yet again. “He came with quite a few others. He was a man with stark white hair, just as precisely half of Shishi’s fur was. By now, able to hunt and roam free in such a wide space, the great Shishi was such a great size that it seemed they could crush the man underfoot with ease. But within him, they sensed an astonishing power… and it was proven correct. With the barest effort, he leapt all the way to eye level with the great creature… and, with an indescribable sadness in his eyes, he said it was he who caused the great chasm,” Hinata said quietly.  
  
“He expected the great creature to stomp and roar, to send the land rocking and shaking with quakes and tsunamis in its towering rage… but it did not. In a voice like distant thunder, it merely asked why. And so he told them. His clan had done battle with a beast whose power eclipsed anything yet known. A beast that could’ve devoured Shishi in an instant. Because of that battle, because of their foolishness, the great world tree was no more. Its roots were already losing their strength, and so, the very world had nearly come undone.”  
  
“Wait. Is this the Sage?” Sasuke asked.   
  
“Close. His brother. He’s not discussed nearly as often, since he was apparently extremely humble and kind of reclusive, but he’s important too. My clan thinks some of the Sage stories might actually be him, though,” Hinata said. Sasuke just nodded in understanding. “But… back to the story… So, looking into the man’s soul, the Shishi saw that he was honest, and that he had never truly wanted to scar the world with that abyss. So, the great lion breathed out, and with that breath exhaled a touch of the moon’s essence. The man was wholly surrounded in it, and breathed it in himself. And so, he became the first human with a Byakugan,” Hinata said quietly.  
  
“What about that big battle he was talking about, though?” Sasuke pressed. “What’s all that about a tree, giant roots, and a beast?”  
  
“Ah, Sasuke-kun, that’s an even longer story, all told…” Hinata said quietly. “Didn’t we hear about it in school anyway?”  
  
“Well, yes, but…” Sasuke trailed off, suddenly having trouble looking at Hinata.  
  
“What is it?” Hinata asked quietly.  
Truthfully, it was a combination of two things, one of them being that Sasuke had mostly forgotten the story because it must’ve been told on a day where his issues were getting to him especially badly.   
  
The other was still embarrassing, but not as embarrassing as admitting such a weakness when he was supposed to have excellent memory and always pay attention in class, so he opted to go for it. “I hadn’t noticed before, but you have a nice voice,” Sasuke said plainly, causing Hinata to just blink a couple of times in stunned silence.  
  
“...Thank… you?” Hinata hesitantly replied, unsure what to make of it. Sasuke hardly ever complimented anyone, especially not so directly.  
  
“Do you feel any better now?” Sasuke replied simply. Hinata actually had to take a moment to think when he said it, and once she did, she was shocked that she had to. Apparently, that whole process really had completely distracted her from the weight of killing someone.  
  
“...Surprisingly, I actually do. You were right, Sasuke-kun!” Hinata said happily. “Thank you!”  
  
Sasuke just gave a tiny smile in response.

* * *

The next day, the team found themselves all having to get into a banged-up little rowboat in the midst of murky, brackish water and a thick blanket of fog.

On one hand, Hinata could easily see through the fog with the Byakugan, but on the other, she didn’t fancy the prospect of wasting so much chakra, so she was left having to suffer through reduced visibility like anyone else. It was a harrowing prospect. Part of her wanted to grab Naruto’s hand, but the rest of her was too embarrassed and ashamed. It was just a boat and some fog. What was she so afraid of?! She already killed someone, and she couldn’t go looking like a little sissy after all that.  
  
She settled for just sitting a bit closer to Naruto than necessary, doing her best to relax. Tazuna was close enough that she could _smell_ him, and she had to fight not to make a face. It wasn’t like Naruto always smelled wonderful either, but at least he had redeeming qualities. Tazuna was just… gross.   
  
That line of thought only gathered more evidence when Kakashi made to get more information out of the man, calmly informing him that they couldn’t be of service to him otherwise. Hinata briefly felt the urge to jab the man in the throat and watch him gasp for a minute or two when he started on some emotionally manipulative drivel about how his eight-year-old grandson would cry his eyes out and his daughter would curse the Leaf for the rest of her life. For all she knew, he was just a good liar and his family was entirely fake, given his track record.  
  
Part of her wanted to feel bad for him, but… why in the _world_ would he sink so low as to try and garner their pity when he thought of them as a gaggle of second-rate tools, barely respected the fact that they were risking their lives and _killing_ for him, and to top it all off, tried to center the pity on him and his family, when he honestly gave them absolutely _no good reason_ to like him enough for that to have a high chance of working? That wasn’t just emotional manipulation, it was _lazy_ and _sloppy_ emotional manipulation at that.

Hinata couldn’t help but just think to herself “ _Two can play at that game, old man,”_ _  
__  
_With that thought, she began to speak too. Softly, fretfully, letting her bottom lip tremble slightly as she fidgeted with her fingers. “I would love to help you, Tazuna-san… I’m sure my sister will understand if the worst happens and I never come home…” Hinata said quietly. “It’s so nice to hear that she and your grandson are about the same age… B-but as she’s being trained to be a ninja, I’m _sure_ she’d understand if something were to happen to me. Sure, she’ll probably get upset that the terms of this mission were… less than honest… but I guess some people _just can’t help themselves_ ,” Hinata said, trailing off for a moment with a wistful sigh. Tazuna began to squirm a bit. She continued talking.  
  
“I-I… I really wouldn’t want this to backfire on you, after all… I know you’re a desperate man… So I’m sure she… _probably..._ wouldn’t convince my father to spread the word that the people of this land are untrustworthy and that their missions shouldn’t be accepted anymore, even if he does have quite a lot of sway back home… “ Hinata continued. “With that in mind, I suppose I have no regrets…”  
  
Tazuna was dead silent, as was Kakashi, since it seemed Kakashi was going to say something before Hinata began speaking. But while Kakashi was just watching and listening, Tazuna seemed to be on the verge of a cold sweat.  
  
“T-that’s, um… “ Tazuna started, before trailing off. Hinata only took the next opening and kept pushing.  
  
“And Naruto-kun, here… Oh, he’s just so close with our Hokage-sama! That’s probably much of why we’re here, because Hokage-sama just had so much faith in him... It sure would be a shame if anything were to happen to him… Hokage-sama is said to be a bit temperamental, but he _probably_ wouldn’t go so far as to take it out on a nation he deemed responsible… He’d surely be merciful, because it’s just a small nation with no strong backing from any other elemental nations… then again, there’s always the rumors about how the Land Of Fire got some of its land… B-but I’m sure you have nothing to worry about, Tazuna-san! You’re just an honest man forced into a tough situation. You’d never do anything that could endanger your entire nation or stain its reputation for decades to come. _Isn’t that right?_ ” Hinata said, finishing with a hopeful little fake smile as Tazuna completely failed to look her way, suddenly finding that looking down at the surface of the water was far more interesting.  
  
The others just stared at Hinata disbelievingly, especially Kakashi. Not only did she completely turn his emotionally manipulative bullshit back on him, she managed to lace in some things to make him feel frightened and insecure without actually being rude or intimidating at all.

“...Well… I don’t know if that’s really…” Tazuna awkwardly started, coughing a couple of times.  
  
“Oh, no, Tazuna-san! My apologies. I had no intention of making you feel guilty or uncomfortable. Just as I’m _sure_ you didn’t. I’m sure other people might try to play with the emotions of those tasked with risking their lives to help them for such little money, but not _you_. _Especially_ not if they were to want their precious daughter and grandson to think well of them... I’m _sure_ of that,” Hinata said, with another fake little smile.  
  
Naruto and even Sasuke fought the urge to laugh as Tazuna still found it impossible to look straight at her, reduced to just fidgeting uncomfortably aboard the boat. Kakashi wouldn’t admit it aloud, but it was actually kind of impressive. A fine display of Hyuuga passive-aggressiveness. Cloyingly polite, hard to worm out of, uncomfortably and unwelcomingly persistent in its false kindness. It also made good use of her social standing compared to Tazuna. She was a sweet-looking, polite little girl, and he was some washed-up old civilian without the training or grounds to call out what she was doing anywhere near as well as a ninja. If he tried to call it out, he’d look like a bitch. If he went along with it, he’d still look like a bitch. He was effectively trapped.  
  
The most uncomfortable thing from Kakashi’s perspective was that if she managed to recover from Tazuna’s guilting so quickly and pull that off so well, then there must’ve been times when the same tactics were used on her. She must’ve been _used_ to it.

“Sorry… I should treat you all with more respect,” Tazuna said quietly, flushing with shame.  
  
Naruto distantly recalled what Hinata had said a while ago, about how some adults were so hung up on looking like they were better than kids. He supposed it made sense that adults like that tended to fall apart when it was looking like they were wrong.  
  
So, the little boat continued on its way, as Hinata just struck up a quiet conversation with Naruto like she hadn’t done anything at all.  
  
She had just one bitterly, silently triumphant thought to herself as they slowly made progress along the murky waters.  
  
“ _Doesn’t feel so good, does it old man?”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (*): In Japanese, the words would be “neko” and “hekireki”. Thus, Nekireki. Yes, beneath the trauma, this Sasuke is an animal-loving dork. I figured it kind of made sense, extrapolating from how he decided to give his Part 2 team two animal-based names and made a bunch of animal analogies in various conversations he had. (As an aside, Hinata’s also right about him using this interest to deal with his loneliness)
> 
> (**): My altered canon for this AU is that Sasuke had the potential to graduate a bit early, but then the massacre happened. Despite the Sharingan working off of intense emotion and traumas, I imagine that overdoing it, especially at such a young age is, y’know, Bad.
> 
> (***): Samurai now exist throughout the continent. Land of Iron just prefers them exclusively.
> 
> One of the big reasons is giving Hidden Villages more sensible reasons to fear being undermined by their daimyo. There’s not enough manpower/stability to rule entire countries directly, but I would think they at least have the leverage to be less threatened than they act in canon.
> 
> So, having the samurai be a force that directly supports and protects the daimyo while also using chakra and often kind of opposing ninja policies is to strengthen the logic of why daimyo can so freely threaten and restrict Hidden Villages.
> 
> The other reason is that I kinda wished samurai were more relevant, on top of how they barely explain why it is that 90% of countries completely phased them out compared to how they were super historically important irl. Obviously they don’t need to be super important in a story about ninja, and a society where ninja seem to kind of supplant their historical purpose in a way, but still.
> 
> (****): Honestly, I kind of headcanon that pretty much all the clothes in the series must have reinforcement seals in them or be made of some fantasy textile or something, given all the shit ninjas go through, but it probably gets rapidly more expensive as the seals/materials get better, so it’s still good to be able to do this yourself to some extent.
> 
> And another thing: I understand Tazuna was desperate, but Team 7 definitely could’ve stood to dunk on him more than they did in canon, lmao. The contract never said everyone’s gotta be nice to you, you little liar.
> 
> I also felt like most experienced ninja should be decently up to date with foreign affairs if they accept missions from out of the country, so with just basic knowledge of Wave’s situation and a little critical thinking, this mission should’ve been a bit more obviously fishy to people.
> 
> Also, sorry that I kinda took a detour instead of just getting right to the mission, but I need you to know that like half of why this story exists is just to make it so that Sasuke gets an actual support network. (And so that he eventually gets love and cuddles). I also wanted to more explicitly establish the serious, internal reason why Inner Sasuke exists, beyond the meta-reason of “comedy”. The other half of why this exists is just giving Hinata personality beyond “shy, nice, loves Naruto”, and a skillset that isn’t rendered redundant by Neji. After all, I find it hard to believe that someone raised as a child soldier is really going to turn out totally sweet and innocent. (I also love the irony that she ended up being first to kill)


	6. Try To Keep A Secret

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a secret comes out, and Team 7 faces its fallout.
> 
> Also, as usual, more well-meaning but bad teacher Kakashi.
> 
> Also ALSO as usual, I'm still bad at keeping chapters short, whoops.

Sasuke figured it was just the team’s luck that things seemed okay for all of roughly twenty-seven-point-six minutes once they got on land...  
  
Until they weren’t anymore.  
  
At the very least, Naruto seemed unusually subdued, almost sulky, probably still strongly affected by what’d happened yesterday… He’d watched Hinata kill someone for him while he wasn’t able to do anything but cower, and then he’d gone to keep her company as she buried the man before his eyes. Sasuke imagined that in Naruto’s shoes, he wouldn’t be saying much either.  
  
Hinata was back to scanning the area with her Byakugan. Despite the fact she hadn’t slept much at all the night before, she was displaying a thoroughness she hadn’t before, and Sasuke knew it was borne of fear. Regardless, after a little while of almost idyllic quiet, things changed in an instant. Sasuke could swear it was like Hinata’s idle comment about why there was a white rabbit hiding in the bushes when it wasn’t winter time somehow gave the gods the signal they were waiting for to just take a fat, steaming shit in Team 7's collective breakfast.  
  
Suddenly, there was some tall, leanly muscled guy waiting for them in the trees. He had spiky black hair, a stupidly huge and very distinctive sword, and a bunch of bandages wrapped around the lower half of his face. The worst part about the sword was that it was such a ridiculous size that to use it properly would undeniably take superhuman strength and skill. Ergo, if the man they were facing was so confident in it, he was immediately guaranteed to be either an extraordinary fighter or a pompous moron, with no real inbetween.  
  
Knowing the team’s luck so far, Sasuke couldn’t bet on the latter at all.  
  
Kakashi said something about the man’s name being Zabuza Momochi, so-called “Demon of the Mist”, which _definitely_ gave Sasuke so many warm, fuzzy, confident feelings about their chances of victory. Yup. Sure, he kind of wanted to either puke or die under the oppressive bloodlust the man exuded, but they _totally_ weren’t screwed.  
  
Not even Inner Sasuke had anything annoyingly peppy to say, beyond just _“I think I’m gonna pee myself!”_ . Great. Just great. His inner self was either annoyingly soft and sentimental, or a whiny, cowering pissbaby, _as fucking usual._ If it wasn’t about Itachi, it couldn’t be assed to grow a damn spine, apparently.  
  
The situation was enough of a mess as it was, but then Kakashi just had to go and complicate Sasuke’s feelings further by suddenly lifting his crooked headband and revealing a bright red Sharingan, clear as day.  
  
Sasuke froze at that.  
  
Naruto seemed just as shocked as him, but Hinata seemed… less surprised and more… wary? She was narrowing her eyes and frowning a little at first, but then she turned towards Sasuke and gave him an inquiring look, before frowning a bit more and then surreptitiously jerking her head once towards Kakashi.  
  
Apparently, she wanted to know what he thought of the whole situation… and it occurred to Sasuke that because of her Byakugan, she probably already _knew_ about Kakashi’s Sharingan. From there, she probably hadn’t said anything before for the same reason she was trying to silently get his opinion on it. She thought it was _suspicious_ .  
  
Sasuke couldn’t help but agree with her a bit, as much as part of him _wanted_ to trust Kakashi.  
  
It didn’t help that Kakashi talked big about swearing to protect them, only to decide that after a while of darting around and only managing to hit water clones, his best course of action was to…  
  
 _Go in the fucking water._ _  
__  
_Against an opponent who obviously _had Suiton and originated from Mist._ _  
__  
_Sasuke’s confidence in the man, however much it briefly managed to rise, plummeted like a lead brick soon after. _Some_ **_genius_ ** _he was,_ going and getting his dumb ass trapped in a sphere of water.  
  
“ _Welp, that’s it! Throw in the towel folks, I’m writing my will right now! Everything goes to my cats!”_ Inner Sasuke wailed, as Sasuke desperately told him to shut the fuck up. He was _not_ going to die. He could still hear Kakashi yelling at them to run away, which in turn meant he had quite a bit of time left for air.  
  
Unfortunately, regardless of how much or how little Sasuke trusted Kakashi, there was no real choice but to ignore his insistence on running away and try to save him. They were utterly fucked without him, no matter how Sasuke tried to slice it.  
  
Zabuza had the ability to make water clones, and even those were so strong that Sasuke got knocked flat on his ass just because the clone was _toying_ with him.

He grit his teeth as a quick burst of crackling flames allowed him to get up and clear distance despite his aching ribs, but they weren’t out of options yet. At the very least, there was something they’d been working on over the course of training. With concealed hand gestures and quick eye movements, Hinata’s Byakugan could easily pick up on various signals they gave her. In turn, she could reply with her own set of signals and signs, or convey previously hidden signals to someone else. Since her response signals had to be more visible, they carried more risk, but it still meant that enemies would be missing out on at least two-thirds of what the plan was.  
  
In the midst of a brief, one-sided skirmish, the three of them used the method to come up with a slapdash plan as best they could… but one of the first steps was for Naruto to deploy a large amount of shadow clones, enough to obscure the enemy’s view…  
  
It was when their enemy (or more precisely, his water clone) repelled them and paused in an odd moment of brief shock that he said something that shocked them all to his core.  
  
“Huh. Those were solid clones, kid. A _lot_ of fucking solid clones, at that. You must have a shitload of chakra!” the man said, his voice becoming increasingly excited and _knowing_ as he continued. “Let’s see… shitload of chakra… blonde hair… blue eyes… some technique that’s _gotta_ be kinjutsu for most people…” the man continued, clearly grinning wildly beneath his bandages as he steadily stalked forward.  
  
It was then that Zabuza suddenly lurched forward with unholy speed, and lunged like a surging wave. Just like that, Naruto was suddenly pinned beneath the man’s foot as he leaned down and spoke with a low excitement: “Shit! So this little brat’s really related to the Fourth Hokage, huh?!” (*)

Naruto stared up at him, eyes wide and disbelieving. Sasuke and Hinata were both speechless, as the man just began to laugh.  
  
“ _What,”_ Inner Sasuke flatly said.  
  
“What,” Sasuke quietly said aloud, actually in sync with the other for once.  
  
“Some village Konoha is, huh? A kid related to someone like fucking Minato Namikaze, and this is the best they can do with that brat?” the man said, as Naruto began angrily going through hand signs.

* * *

  
If Kakashi weren’t trying not to drown, he’d be going slack-jawed not just at the casually revealed secret, but at the ensuing gale that forced Zabuza’s water clone to jump back, immediately allowing Naruto to spring to his feet.   
  
When…  
  
When did Naruto… learn how to…  
  
Kakashi’s thoughts were interrupted by Hinata responding to some unseen signal, and then Sasuke following suit as soon as she began weaving hand-signs… And when exactly _did_ her hand-signs get so _quick_ for a Genin, anyway? He’d expect that from Sasuke, but-  
  
In a flash, there was a barrage of small lightning charges being slung across the battlefield, forcing Zabuza’s water clone to jump back and away. Clever. Every part of it and its equipment was conductive. It couldn’t block Raiton properly at all, so it would always be forced to dodge. It just would’ve been nice if Kakashi had _actually known_ about them having Raiton. Meanwhile, Naruto had the perfect chance to take a wind-assisted leap to an absolutely ridiculous height, so far up it was hard to see him.  
  
In the next moment, there was the distant cry of “Uzumaki Flash Barrage!” from overhead, followed by the faint sound of a bunch of shadow clones popping into existence… And then, with speed assisted by both wind and gravity, a storm of flash-bang seals attached to kunai were sent hurtling to the ground around him, Zabuza, and Zabuza’s clone.  
  
Hinata and Sasuke had already quickly shut their eyes, and quickly instructed Tazuna to do the same, but Kakashi was only left to briefly recall that shadow clones also replicated all of your equipment.  
  
But to have Fuuton, and enough chakra to power so many duplicate flash-bangs as well as accelerate them with wind...…  
  
That kid was really something else…  
  
The air filled with unholy levels of light and cacophonous noise, but in the chaos, a streak of lightning hit the real Zabuza dead on. It wasn’t enough to kill him by a long shot, but the surge of pain and the way it forced his muscles to seize meant that Kakashi had all the time he could possibly need to leap from the prison of water, with Zabuza unable to properly focus on keeping him trapped.  
  
As he leapt away, Kakashi realized with a start that the only one who could’ve possibly hit Zabuza so accurately in the midst of so much light and confusion was Hinata. Only she could’ve aimed that well when her eyes were closed, thanks to the Byakugan. In turn, the harsh light didn’t have to harm her sight.  
  
 _But when the fuck did she learn a lightning technique like that?_  
  
Then, just to heap even more pain on Zabuza before he could recover, a shadow clone of Naruto suddenly nailed him right on top of the head with a wind-assisted axe-kick from above. Zabuza staggered and snarled, trying to grab for the boy with a deadly surge of speed even in spite of the damage sustained, but the clone vanished as soon as Zabuza got hold of a single leg… Not before the clone got in a cheeky grin and a rude gesture, though.

Regardless, Zabuza wasn’t the Demon of the Mist for nothing. Although he cried out in pain and fury, he was still raring to go. From there, Kakashi had no choice but to take over.  
  
He had to admit, though, his team of genin apparently did more than Zabuza was willing to admit. He didn’t even need to try using Sharingan genjutsu to trick Zabuza into executing his jutsu slower, the lingering effects of the earlier attacks were making his hand signs just the smallest bit slower and clumsier regardless.

Kakashi’s Water Dragon jutsu hit its mark with ease, outpacing Zabuza’s own to the point the man couldn’t even finish his usage of the same jutsu.  
  
But after being sent crashing downriver, it wasn’t even that which apparently took him out… It was the arrival of a masked youth, seemingly only a couple of years older than his three genin at the most, sending a senbon straight into Zabuza’s neck with pinpoint accuracy. Before long, Zabuza was being hauled off to who-knows-where on the kid’s shoulder. Naruto seemed like he wanted to make a bigger fuss about it, but in the aftermath of battle, he was still trying to process what Zabuza had said.  
  
“Kakashi-sensei…” Naruto started. Kakashi tensed, knowing exactly what he was going for.  
  
“I promise we’ll talk about what he said about you when we’re somewhere safer and more private,” Kakashi managed to say, trying his best to stave off his mounting exhaustion.  
  
“What?! Why?! At least tell me if it’s true or not before you just totally clam up about it!” Naruto cried.  
  
Kakashi looked at him for a long moment, seeming to carefully study his expression before speaking. “...It’s true,” Kakashi said finally. It really only took him a few seconds more than it usually would, and yet it seemed somehow like those seconds stretched on forever. “But I’m not kidding. That’s all I’m going to say here. This isn’t something to discuss so out in the open,” Kakashi continued.  
  
Naruto looked absolutely gobsmacked. Really, they all were. Sasuke was pretty sure not even he was managing to look as stoic as usual.  
  
It was Hinata who spoke up again, quiet and soft.  
  
“Well… s-sorry, but if we can’t talk about _that_ yet… I think it’s important to say… I don’t think Zabuza is really dead,” Hinata told everyone. “I saw it… his chakra didn’t void his body properly. It was heavily repressed, but still faintly coursing through him. Nor did his heart truly stop beating,” Hinata said quietly. “Everything was just… slowed down.”  
  
“You can see things like that?” Tazuna asked quietly. “Even when you were standing that far away?”  
  
“Yes, but please don’t tell anyone. It’s much better if our enemies don’t know,” Hinata said quietly.  
  
“Wait, so if that kid lied about killing him…” Naruto started, concentrating in deep thought. “Then they’re actually on the same side!”  
  
“Yes, very good, Naruto. You too, Hinata. That’s critical information,” Kakashi said, although his breath was growing short and he was finding himself hunching over despite his best efforts.

Kakashi had to quietly admit to himself, Hinata being cautious and limited with what information she would volunteer was a good trait to have in tough situations…   
  
But not so much for the fact that his genin apparently managed to keep him so in the dark about what they could all do. The more cutting thing was, it was hardly like “keeping him in the dark” had really been the dastardly, planned-out scheme that wording implied. It’d only turned out like that because he’d been so grossly apathetic. He hadn’t even bothered to _ask_ or _care_ about most of the things they were doing when he wasn’t with them, so long as they followed directions and did their D-Ranks, so of _course_ there were a bunch of things he didn’t know.  
  
It absolutely had to be either Hinata’s or Sasuke’s idea. He knew well enough that Naruto loved showing off, there was no way that boy would ever decide to withhold the knowledge that he could use nature releases without someone else telling him to do that.  
  
As much as it pained Kakashi, he was leaning much more towards it being Hinata who was responsible. Naruto valued her opinions greatly, and while Hinata seemed deeply fond of Naruto, it seemed to take her all she had to even pretend to like Kakashi. She was never openly mean, but she was never exactly _warm_ or emotionally forthright towards him _,_ either. It was all the more glaring because from what he could gather, that wasn’t her default nature, unlike how guarded Sasuke could be. She was positively _doting_ towards Naruto, and she’d even warmed up to Sasuke some, becoming more comfortable and talkative around him.  
  
He’d brought them on a mission she’d suspected all along as being more dangerous than it rightfully should’ve been, and now she wasn’t stopping because her family made her feel some kind of obligation to complete it despite her obvious discomfort… and then he’d not only left it up to her to kill someone because he hadn’t taken action himself, he ended up requiring her to help rescue him.  
  
Not to mention, with her eyes, and with her being the only one to still have a living family and clan to keep her a bit more “in the know” compared to Naruto and Sasuke, there was no telling how long she’d been perfectly aware of his Sharingan. His Sharingan that he _shouldn’t naturally have_ , and had _never explained to them_ .  
  
If she didn’t particularly trust him, Kakashi would have to be a fool to claim he didn’t see why.  
  
Those were some of his last thoughts before he ended up passing out from Sharingan overuse, despite how hard he fought to try and stay awake. Passing out would risk further undermining her trust by making himself seem weak and unreliable.

* * *

  
Soon afterwards, Team 7 found themselves staying at Tazuna’s house, where they could rest and plan their next moves. They spoke more about what Hinata had seen, and theorized about it further amongst themselves. By sheer happenstance, both Kakashi and Zabuza would likely take about a week to heal. Kakashi was a bit grateful for it, but that prediction still relied on the assumption that Zabuza didn’t have good access to anyone with sufficiently advanced medical ninjutsu… and it was never, ever a good idea to assume too much.

But of course, as soon as they were done discussing the potential threat of Zabuza, Naruto was needling him about what Zabuza had said once again…  
  
After Tazuna was asked to leave the room, Kakashi took a deep breath and began to speak. “Yes, Naruto, Zabuza was right. Your father was none other than Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage…” Kakashi forced out, feeling like he could hardly even stand to look Naruto in the eye.  
  
He wasn’t supposed to find out like that… He didn’t have to-  
  
“But… why did no one tell me this before?! I always wanted to know, and no one ever gave me a real answer! If my father was that important, how come I’m barely important at all?! How come almost nobody likes me?! How come I have to have the-” Naruto paused and glanced at Sasuke, but quickly kept going. “You know! Just… why does everything have to be so hard and confusing, if this is really the answer?!”  
  
“Your father had a lot of enemies. He was unbelievably powerful, but without him around to protect you anymore, we couldn’t risk-” Kakashi said.  
  
“So nobody trusts me with secrets about my _own family,_ then?!” Naruto interrupted, getting up in Kakashi’s face with teeth clenched and misty eyes. Kakashi felt something in his chest tighten to a dangerous degree. “I’m just- Everyone thinks I’m that much of a moron, that unimportant, that unreliable?! I don’t get to know something that even some bandage-faced bastard could tell just from looking at me?! That’s bullshit! This is bullshit, dattebayo! If it’s really to protect me or whatever dumb shit you’re trying to sell me, then how come the first foreign guy who knew a single thing about Konoha could figure it out like it’s nothing?! Doesn’t that make it fucking pointless?! Doesn’t it?! Doesn’t it just sound like it’s really just another thing everyone did just because they fucking hate me?!” Naruto cried, quite literally, as tears began falling while he ranted.  
  
Hinata gently put a hand on his shoulder while Sasuke just sat stone-faced, unsure what exactly to think.  
  
Kakashi just stared back at him in silence. For a supposed dead-last, he did make some good points. What was the point of the secret when people who knew what to look for could see through it so easily? Hiruzen had said nothing about disguising Naruto, or hiding his true levels of chakra. They’d just let him waltz right out of the village so long as Kakashi was with him.  
  
“Naruto-kun… at this point, I think… I think Sasuke-kun should know the _other_ thing too. I think… it seems connected…” Hinata said quietly. “If you want to, that is…”  
  
Naruto was silent for a moment, before just turning to Sasuke and saying it as blunt as anything, as if simply commenting on what he had for lunch. “I have the Kyuubi inside of me,” Naruto said, so matter-of-factly and yet solemnly that Sasuke just silently stared in disbelief for a couple of minutes. “S-so hate me if you want, or think I’m weird, or start avoiding me, or whatever, but-”  
  
“I’m not going to,” Sasuke said simply.  
  
When Naruto stared back at him in bewilderment, eyes still watering, Sasuke said nothing more than “What? Don’t be dumb. You think I’m some kind of idiot, doing pointless shit like that?”  
  
Naruto was crying even harder than before at that, his choked-up gratitude hard to audibly understand but simultaneously crystal clear in its meaning. Sasuke only sighed in response, before giving just the faintest smile.  
  
“Anyway, Naruto…” Kakashi started. He waited for Naruto to calm down a little before he went any further. “The Kyuubi became common knowledge among adults, but only a few knew who your parents were… I was one of them. But I wasn’t able to tell you, because I wasn’t allowed.”  
  
Naruto was quiet at that, so Hinata spoke next. “A-another thing, sensei… Naruto-kun told me his birthday is October 10th… and that’s when history class always said the Fourth gave his life ‘defeating the Kyuubi’... So, going by this, what that really means is…” Hinata started, trembling slightly at the sheer weight of the implication.  
  
“Right. He sealed it into Naruto to save the village, and died in the process,” Kakashi said.  
  
“But… why? What’s the point of doing that to your own son?!” Hinata asked, agitated but still quiet. “That can’t have been the only way to defeat it… Unless…” Hinata trailed off, her expression going dark. Kakashi reflexively tensed. He could _feel_ that she was about to understand. Her Byakugan would give her all the clues she needed. “When we train, Naruto-kun always has so much chakra, a-and I’ve seen how it… sometimes it hurts him, because it’s so much pressure on his system and… it has some kind of slightly corrosive property… but a lot of it is there because it originates _from_ the Kyuubi, and made to become his own… And I’ve seen how fast it helps him heal, because it seems like that’s balancing out the corrosion… So… the only thing I can think of is…” Hinata took a deep breath before continuing.  
  
“He’s like this, he’s got this thing inside of him that causes him pain and makes so many people treat him badly... Just so he can be a stronger ninja… and _his own father_ is the one who did it… But... no one’s even _grateful_ for it! Not even _you_ !” Hinata said, but she quickly clammed up at the last part. Apparently, she hadn’t quite meant to say it, because she quickly looked away, body starting to tremble immediately.  
  
“...Hinata,” Kakashi said quietly. “I’m not… I’m not mad, just… what do you mean by that?”  
  
Hinata looked suddenly like she’d rather be literally anywhere else, but she gave a shaky series of breaths and then quickly began to speak, as if she only had so much time to get it all out. “I-I’m sorry, b-but… Y-you barely train with him properly, y-you… you always act _bored_ with him, I’m quite sure from knowing Naruto-kun that you never did _anything_ to support him when he was younger, probably not even _secretly_ or _indirectly..._ You _told us you don’t like us_ when you first met us, and you _knew_ Naruto’s secrets and didn’t think to make him any harder to recognize or better protected than Sasuke-kun and I on this mission!” Hinata cried, as Kakashi just laid there feeling like he’d rather get stabbed through the stomach than deal with what he was hearing... but there was no other good choice. Hinata kept going.

 _“I_ was the one who had to kill someone just to keep him safe… and I… I _heard_ what you said before. I _heard_ how you said you didn’t help us sooner just because you were using us to get more time to see who those two Mist-nin were really after,” Hinata said, trembling fiercely all the while as she forced the words to tumble from her mouth one after another. It was Naruto’s turn to try comforting her, grounding her by gently embracing her from beside her.  
  
 _“She acts like she’s fully convinced I’ll scream or beat her…”_ Kakashi’s mind silently supplied, making his stomach twist. But once again, he made himself speak. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to seem that way, but… I can’t argue that it doesn’t look like that. Even if I hide behind the fact I was ordered to do certain things,” Kakashi said with a sigh. “Either way, my actions had consequences.”

Another uncomfortable pause came and went before Naruto spoke again. “So... if you know who my dad is…” Naruto started. “What about my mom?”  
  
Kakashi bit his lip beneath his mask, but he knew that honestly, Minato was already the most risky one for Naruto to know about. If he tried to keep being evasive anyway, Naruto and Hinata would notice, and besides that, it felt pointless. He’d just be selfishly priding himself on performing meaningless damage control for an already ruined secret, just for the sake of being able to say he at least _kind of_ upheld the Third’s orders.  
  
“Kushina Uzumaki,” Kakashi said quietly. “That’s where your last name is from. And part of how it is that the Kyuubi was successfully contained. The Uzumaki are a clan whose homeland, Uzushio, was destroyed because people feared how powerful their fuinjutsu was. Beyond that, the Uzumaki clan also had strong life force, longevity, and abundant chakra (**)… Kushina’s chakra was particularly special and powerful, and you inherited that. It’s part of why you’re compatible with the Kyuubi to start with. I’m sorry for not knowing the Kyuubi’s chakra is still capable of harming you even with all of these things in your favor, but… if you weren’t a Uzumaki, and your father didn’t benefit from being able to study their fuinjutsu for your seal, it’d be far worse,” Kakashi said solemnly.  
  
“...So you’re saying both of my parents were these really special people in their own ways… which makes me ‘special’ too... but that’s just… I don’t know, that’s just…” Naruto said quietly.  
  
“What is it?” Kakashi asked quietly.  
  
“I just… I don’t know, now it makes _me_ feel bad! Because I’m apparently so ‘special’, but… as weird as it sounds, now I’m kind of wishing I weren’t? Because, because that makes it feel like, y’know, what _excuse_ do I have, dattebayo?! What excuse is there for almost failing the academy?! What excuse is there for what a coward I’ve been on this mission?! What excuse is there for always making so much trouble for everyone if I’m really supposed to be this amazing special guy after all?! I… I feel like, in a way… it was nice to not _really_ think I was special. I know I kept _acting_ like I was, but… I thought I was because I thought I _wasn’t,_ if that makes any sense! It made me feel proud whenever I accomplished stuff because of how much I struggled and worked hard! Yeah, I knew I had a lot of chakra, but that wasn’t the same as knowing all of _this!_ At least with just that, it was still kind of causing problems for me because of chakra pressure and control issues and stuff, so I still didn’t have to feel like anything was _too easy_ for me…” Naruto said, looking down at the floor with an utterly lost expression.  
  
“I think I get it, don’t worry about it being too confusing,” Kakashi said softly. What Naruto seemed to be saying, beneath the back and forth about his ‘specialness’, was that he’d built his identity and self-esteem around feeling like he had to try harder than everyone else.  
  
Being told that that wasn’t necessarily 100% true, and that he really did have huge genetic advantages he wasn’t aware of, apparently wasn’t as much of a relief as Kakashi might’ve originally expected. Naruto was feeling like his belief in things being “harder” for him had just been undermined to the point where he was left questioning himself.  
  
“And… Sasuke…” Naruto started, which caused Sasuke to perk up in attention. It sounded serious. “Now I feel so bad ‘cause I spent all this time mad at Sasuke for being ‘special’, only to find out that I was just the pot calling the kettle black that whole time, ‘cause of stuff I never knew about or asked for!” Naruto cried. “Now I have to feel like a complete asshole on top of everything else, dattebayo! Do you guys even know how embarrassing that is to think about?!”  
  
“Naruto-kun…” Hinata said softly. “You didn’t know. And you have been doing it a lot less than you used to anyway…”  
  
“But… still… even when I think about being Hokage… It felt so great _because_ it felt like this huge crazy thing no one would ever think I could do! It felt like once I did something everyone said was impossible, there couldn’t be any more doubt about me, dattebayo! Now imagine me doing it, but knowing my dad was Hokage and my mom was someone with even more special chakra than normal, from a clan that was already powerful and special to begin with! Fuck, people'd probably hate me even _more,_ ‘cause now there _can_ be doubt! Now they could just say that I only even got the spot ‘cause of all this! And the worst part is, they’d probably be right!” Naruto animatedly went on, growing more distraught by the second.  
  
Everyone else was feeling the damper on their moods too, not really sure how to comfort him, but he continued regardless, beginning to tear up even more.  
  
“And I know it’s probably dumb to be complaining about this in the first place! I know it just makes me look like a big, stupid, whiny baby to be complaining that I was special all along, but I can’t help it! So I have to feel guilty about that, too! I have to feel bad because I’m sitting here throwing a fit when I know I’m supposed to be _happy_ that my parents were those strong, amazing people! I know that, but… but…”  
  
Naruto finally just broke into tears, leaning against Hinata for comfort as she quietly shushed and comforted him, stroking his back in slow circles.  
  
“It’s okay to be sad or angry sometimes, Naruto-kun… Even for stuff like this.” Hinata said gently. “I know… I’m not the best person to be saying that, because I still feel ashamed when I’m angry or I don’t like someone… but… I get how it feels when you know you should be grateful for something but you aren’t. Or how it feels to be worried that you don’t live up to expectations, or that even if you manage something great, there’ll be people who think you don’t really deserve it… I understand. It’s not that I’m saying it’s just as bad for me… This is still your own situation, after all. But we can talk about it whenever you want to,” Hinata quietly told him.

“...Thank you, Hinata-chan…” Naruto said quietly. “You’re the best,” he said, with a weak giggle.

Sasuke and Kakashi simultaneously let out a sigh of relief. As aloof as they could act, the feeling of… powerless awkwardness in the face of Naruto spiraling into a blubbering mess over the news hadn’t been pleasant in the least.  
  
Well, at least they’d gotten the conversation out of the way, for the time being, even if Kakashi knew he’d have to try and do a better job of keeping an eye on Naruto from then on.  
  
Kakashi decided to let the team just rest for the remainder of the day before getting them started on some new training the next day. Hopefully, that would help everyone not dwell too much on the information bomb he’d dropped on them.  
  
And if he happened to see that Hinata and Naruto ended up falling asleep holding hands that night, due to the fact that the house was small enough to require the whole team to sleep in the same room… he wouldn’t say anything about that, either.

* * *

  
Of course, the next day, Kakashi just _had_ to get thrown for another loop by the fact that when he did his best to push through his lingering pain and chakra exhaustion to try and teach his team to walk on trees…   
  
They could already just… _do that._

Beyond that, they could _already walk on water too._

Kakashi’s bewilderment began to morph into shame. Was he really that inattentive, that he couldn’t even keep up with such banal advancements in what they could do? And moreover, why _had_ he waited so long to try showing them that, anyway? There wasn’t all that much risk involved when there was proper oversight, so there was pretty much no excuse to not be showing them that in all those peaceful weeks he’d had them. In all honesty, the Academy should’ve been teaching it too. Kakashi may have been a prodigy, but he was pretty sure most other kids weren’t actually such slow learners that you needed to wait until they were twelve or thirteen to get them walking on trees. Even Obito had been better than that.

Part of Kakashi wanted to just give up and focus on healing, but the silent shame he was starting to mire in urged him to try harder than that. To at least _try_ to redeem himself a bit.

So, he got into a different approach, asking them what they wanted to learn next, things they thought they could accomplish in a week, and then he’d adjust the exact goal for them depending on how feasible it seemed. It felt like a decent compromise for the hard time they’d all been having with him.  
  
With that system, he eventually got all three of them set on what they wanted to do… only for him to almost end up ruining it before the first day was even over.  
  
He’d been trying to motivate them by pointing out how Hinata was making the best progress and that she seemed to have the best chakra control, which he followed up on with what he _thought_ were inconsequential jabs about Hinata being closer to becoming Hokage than Naruto, and a sarcastic quip about how the Uchiha clan’s best prospect didn’t seem to be all that impressive, implying that either the Uchiha were subpar as a whole, or that Sasuke was a mediocre Uchiha.

Hinata didn’t know what it was that set her off. Didn’t know just what was the last straw that let her push through the fear of talking back. It could’ve been the bored, smug tone that almost made her want to jab him in the throat… Perhaps the lazy, snide air of implied superiority, coming from a man who’d be dead without them and the painstaking training they’d gone through _without him_ … Maybe the sheer _gall_ he had to stoop to that level, the _looks_ on Naruto’s and Sasuke’s faces when he said those things…  
  
But whatever it was, set her off it did. “...How could you even _say_ something like that?” Hinata asked, in what was undeniably the most overtly frustrated, disapproving tone she’d ever taken with him.   
  
Kakashi was so unprepared for it he simply froze for a second, letting her speak further as Naruto and Sasuke just watched with equal surprise. “It… what you said to Naruto-kun was bad enough, you know how he’s been feeling conflicted about Hokage ever since you told him about his parents... but… to Sasuke-kun… You… you _know_ what happened to the Uchiha! Y-you… you… you _have one of their eyes!_ Why w-would you bring up his ties to the clan just to make him feel bad about himself, sensei?” Hinata asked, trembling as she spoke.. “He helped us save your life! Not only is it rude to him, but… d-do… do you even _care_ about the person you got that eye from, sensei?” Hinata continued. “Do you _care_ when you u-use the reputation of his clan as just, just a _prop_ , a-and throw it in his face _just_ to goad him?”  
  
Kakashi’s blood ran cold as he tried to think of something to say to that. He… hadn’t thought about it that way. He was so focused on trying to put up his usual casual, flippant air that he’d-  
  
“I didn’t think about that stuff before… but now that she’s saying it, she does have a point, Kakashi-sensei!” Naruto said. “I mean, yeah, Sasuke pisses me off sometimes, but saying stuff like that is going too far!”  
  
Kakashi just blinked at them a couple of times, an empty helplessness shooting through him as he tried to think of something to say that could fix things beyond just meager apologies.  
  
“...I must excuse myself for a while,” Hinata said quietly. “Naruto-kun?” she asked, turning towards him. That was enough for him to eagerly follow, although surprisingly enough, Sasuke did too, after a moment’s hesitation.  
  
Kakashi just let them all go. He needed more time to think of how to try and confront them without it sounding insincere or overly defensive, after all.  
  
Meanwhile, before Hinata or Naruto could even ask why Sasuke was coming along, he was already speaking.  
  
“...Thank you,” Sasuke said quietly, but with utter conviction. “You didn’t have to say those things, it didn’t bother me all that much, but… I… appreciate the thought,” Sasuke continued, as much as he wasn’t used to expressing gratitude. A couple of months ago, he probably would’ve misinterpreted it as just pity, or Hinata’s attempt to look good as humbly as possible. But he felt he was starting to understand Hinata’s personality and motives better than he could before. He could tell that saying what she’d said had gripped her with such genuine terror that she wouldn’t have done it unless she was being completely sincere.  
  
“Of course. I just… I know he didn’t really mean for it to be a big deal, but… Well, I don’t enjoy how often I’m talked about like I’m only an extension of my clan… and I don’t know if you ever feel that way, but… I-I felt like you didn’t deserve to be talked to in that same kind of way,” Hinata said quietly.  
  
“...I do feel that way,” Sasuke replied, eyes widening a bit in surprise.  
  
“Oh, that’s good! I-I mean, not good! Sorry, of course not, I’m sorry you feel that way too, b-but I meant that as… I was a bit worried that p-perhaps I was just projecting, s-so it’s good that I wasn’t,” Hinata stammered.  
  
“I get what you mean. There’s no need to be so nervous,” Sasuke said, surprisingly gently, although it only seemed to help a little.

“S-sorry,” Hinata said again,

“You don’t have to apologize for everything, either…” Sasuke said flatly,  
  
“S-...Okay…” Hinata awkwardly responded.  
  
With that, Sasuke just nodded once before casually walking away, as if it were just the most natural way to end a conversation in the world.  
  
“Jeez, he at least coulda’ said bye or something…” Naruto commented. “But then again, him coming to thank you is already weirdly super nice by his standards, so I guess we can’t push it too much. If he starts being _too_ nice, that’d be creepy…”  
  
“Imagine Sasuke-kun holding doors open for you and smiling at you all the time…” Hinata said, cracking a small smile. “You’d have him tied up and interrogated because you’d be so sure he’s an impostor!”  
  
“Either that, or I’d be convinced he’s super sick or brainwashed or something,” Naruto jokingly responded, and they both laughed as they went to take a walk through the forest, away from Kakashi.  
  
A short repreive, just for them.

* * *

  
Fortunately for their sensei, the soured mood wasn’t so pervasive as to dissuade everyone from training at all. Within a couple of hours, Naruto was the first to come back. Kakashi had gone back to bedrest, and wasn’t sure if he’d tried to bring Hinata with him or not, but the boy was still uncharacteristically rather sullen as he came up to Kakashi and began to speak.

“I know Hinata and I gave you a hard time earlier...,” Naruto started. “But… I’ll admit it. I still need your help, alright? I’m the reason Hinata-chan already had to kill someone, after all...” Naruto said quietly. “Don’t try to tell me I’m wrong. I know it’s true, dattebayo. She never wanted to do it, but she killed that guy to _protect_ me, and she only even _had to_ protect me because I was such a damn _coward_ …” Naruto continued. “She could’ve been really hurt, doing that… and she cried so much when she was done… Part of her has been miserable from the very beginning of this mission... But even with all that, she still won’t give up on it… So that’s why you gotta teach me, Kakashi-sensei. I’ll be braver from now on, and stronger. Strong enough that I’ll never have to make her do something like that again. So, please!…” Naruto said, looking at him with a steely gaze. There was resolve there, clear as day.

Kakashi just nodded solemnly. before putting on his best fake smile. “Well, well, Naruto… We’ll see what we can do,” Kakashi replied. Briefly, he thought of switching to teaching Naruto _that,_ but… it was better to wait until another time. It was most practical to show him something that he was likely to learn in a week, but would simultaneously be of actual use to him, and _wouldn’t_ completely wreck his body in the process of training it. They had to act as if they were definitely going to be engaged in a dangerous fight again.  
  
Fortunately, Naruto was practically _designed_ to work hard. Mindset was important and all, but for him, it was biological too. He had a ton of chakra, he just needed to adapt to it more. Pushing his body to its limits was the best way to improve his rate of chakra re-uptake, and he had the strong life-force of the Uzumaki combined with the regeneration of being a jinchuuriki on his side.   
  
It was just too bad that part of Naruto seemed to sort of resent that, and Kakashi had no idea what to say to make him feel better. ..  
  
Doubly unfortunate, it seemed to make Sasuke and Hinata feel obligated to try and push themselves just as hard, despite their circumstances being different. Kakashi couldn’t really do much to dissuade them. Maybe Minato would’ve known what to say, but… he wasn’t Minato. It wasn’t like he could realistically tell them to take it easy when there was a huge chance they were going to be facing off against at least two powerful enemy ninja soon.

On the bright side, it was really _something_ to see his first major looks into what they’d come up with mostly on their own, with help from just books, scrolls, and some scattered advice and sessions with Iruka, who was typically pressed for time.  
  
So, from there, as the other two at least somewhat came around as well, more out of necessity than fondness, the training continued.

Hinata had a system of using the Gentle Fist for support purposes, although it worried Kakashi that she’d also taken to both shadow clones and drawing her own seals, both dangerous things to be messing with when she wasn’t jam-packed with chakra or unusually resilient like Naruto. She was even working on the planning and theory-crafting for ones apparently designed to emulate the support function of Gentle Fist by themselves, pulsing carefully timed and measured chakra into the recipient’s system either autonomously or on demand.

Of course, Hinata was suspiciously quiet when Kakashi tried to ask her where exactly she got the information to even know where to _start_ on that kind of thing. It wasn’t the kind of knowledge that was just laying around in any old jutsu library. If it were, a lot more people would want to be using it. Performance-enhancing seals, even minor ones, were coveted and well-respected things, but also notoriously tricky. It was why they were so uncommon despite being so potentially useful. In the worst cases, you’d either outright die or ruin your chakra network permanently when you tried to mesh it with seals without properly understanding what you were doing.

Kakashi was only letting Hinata continue partly because he didn’t want to look like a meddler when she already had such low trust towards him, and partly because what she was planning seemed to be relatively tame and not overly ambitious. Honestly, she probably had a more detailed idea of proper chakra flow than he did anyway. The Byakugan was better than the Sharingan with the finer details of chakra. She’d also made a decent point that she could just use a shadow clone to do the riskier parts of her work… Shadow clones were a risky thing in themselves, and the prospect gave him pause, but she’d then pointed out that the seals she was working on could also double as “chakra batteries”, eventually helping to mitigate the issues with high-expenditure jutsu.  
  
The oddest thing about chakra battery seals was that they seemed like child’s play on paper, but were totally different in practice. Holding chakra was the most fundamental thing a seal could do, and it was even simpler than making seals that held objects or created explosions. _But,_ the much trickier part was properly accessing and directing the chakra inside of it, and for high-density types, making sure it could hold all the chakra _safely_. Letting excess chakra enter your system without proper regulation could be dangerous, especially if you wanted to go over your natural limit, which was extremely difficult to pull off without consequences of some kind. It could be as simple as tiring out faster, or as dire as organ failure. 

So, the seal typically had to be made to only release chakra when your body actually needed it, and it also needed to do it with a specific speed and intensity. Too slow was suboptimal and could potentially get you killed waiting for the release, but too fast could be destructive, and that was another hurdle in itself. It also had to not accidentally “waste” any chakra, or inject it incorrectly. There were also seals that were less automatic and relied more on the user’s conscious chakra control. They bypassed certain issues with letting the seal mechanisms have too much autonomy, but created issues of their own to replace them. For example, they were useless once you fell unconscious or faced some other large impairment to concentration.  
  
The downside was that Kakashi was starting to notice just how little Hinata slept, which seemed to be in part so she could make more time for all the pursuits that didn’t involve physical training. After just a few days of observation, and a bit of educated guesswork from prior memory, Kakashi supposed she only managed about four hours a night on average, being generous. She also seemed to have a way of using the Gentle Fist to partially counteract the downsides. She’d already figured out seals with silent “alarm” functions on them to make sure she wouldn’t oversleep, by the looks of things… and Kakashi knew from experience that most “silent alarm” seals worked by just attaching them to your body and having them abruptly release sudden and jarring pulses of chakra into your system at specific times.

Some stronger and more elaborate variants could also help break genjutsu, or boost the likelihood of retaining consciousness if you were hit with certain jutsu or toxins. Still, most viewed them as nothing but an irritating necessary evil in most situations, because although their waking process was usually painless, it was still thoroughly unpleasant. However, Hinata seemed totally used to them.   
  
Kakashi could only wonder at what circumstances made her feel like she had to go out of her way to make sure she could wake herself up without alerting anybody else on a regular basis...

Kakashi wasn’t particularly shocked when Hinata chose to learn the Chakra Transfer Technique, as he figured she was already well-suited for it. The Byakugan gave her a much better idea of what she was working with when she performed the technique, her heritage gave her a high capacity for chakra control, and he supposed there were some interesting implications for how it could be combined with the Gentle Fist. The whole style already involved forcing chakra into people’s systems, but by default the recipient wasn’t able to truly absorb the chakra inserted by the Gentle Fist, even when it was used beneficially. Benevolent chakra transfer involved transmuting your chakra into a basic, universal form that anyone could successfully absorb without issue.  
  
Chakra transfer was also something of a “gateway jutsu”, because further training and specialization of “basic” chakra transfer could lead to many other skills and effects. For one thing, it was the underlying framework of most of the medical ninjutsu meant to be used on another person. For another, learning how to adapt the signature of your transferred chakra to further boost compatibility with different people allowed you to vastly increase the amount of things you could do with it, and those things didn’t necessarily need to be benevolent at all.

In particular, Hinata wanted to learn it because she was planning on incorporating seals into it as intermediaries in the process, something that Kakashi couldn’t help but be impressed by. Even if she hadn’t actually done it yet, to have come to that conclusion through her own study was an indicator that the girl had some unusually strong grasp of chakra theory for a Genin. There were even Jonin who used variations of the hypothetical system she was describing.  
  
By time Hinata had the basic version of the technique down in just four days, only needing to work on improving transfer rates, Kakashi was beginning to think that perhaps the girl had been talented in her own way all along. The rest of the Hyuuga just hadn’t known what to look for and nurture, only demanding she perform to _their_ specifications.  
  
Even so, Kakashi noted that the training process didn’t necessarily improve the tension between them. Hinata followed orders. That was that. All the distance, polite brevity, and excuses to not be around him otherwise were the same. So, really, he didn’t exactly have the best idea of how to nurture her talents either. He’d just lucked out and hit on something good because she’d suggested it first. And he wasn’t the kind of learner she was, either. He was really more of the kind of learner that Sasuke was, one whose genius was more in regards to swiftly coming to a semi-instinctive understanding based on natural aptitude and focus. With the Sharingan bolstering that approach to its limits, he wasn’t actually as impressive as one would think when it came to pure theory, or breaking jutsu down into logic and smaller components.  
  
For all its amazing power, even Kakashi’s Chidori wasn’t actually something it took an “intellectual” genius to create. You didn’t need to be smart to understand it. The difficulty of the technique was exclusively in being able to control the sheer output of speed and power.

* * *

  
Meanwhile, what Naruto wanted to learn wasn’t particularly surprising either. Kakashi saw the desire for something powerful from a mile away, but he didn’t feel _that technique_ was on the table yet.   
  
So, Kakashi managed to get him to agree on imbuing shadow clones with an element. In Naruto’s case, wind.  
  
The wind clones, like with anything, came with their own strengths and drawbacks. For one, they were no longer useful for making people think they were the real Naruto. They looked wispy and “washed out”, almost translucent in the right light. They had blurry, smoky boundaries and faded pastel versions of Naruto’s usual colors. Their primary benefit was being incredibly lightweight and fast, but to the point of being almost _too_ fast. Naruto learned how to at least _initiate_ the technique in just two days, but having them try to _do things_ was a nightmare. 

They were totally unused to being so much faster than the real Naruto, and they also weren’t used to how little effort they had to put into their movements. They were constantly tripping, overshooting their jumps, and smashing into things, which was a major flaw considering that they were more unstable than normal clones. Their maximum speed wasn’t even actually their theoretical true speed, because they had a certain point where running too fast made them disintegrate from the force of the wind moving against them.   
  
As a result of the light, fragile, unstable nature, they only had a fraction of a regular shadow clone’s physical strength, and could accidentally destroy themselves just by attacking too hard. Regardless, they were still significantly stronger than you’d think. Their ninjutsu strength was still the same, and their punches and kicks still hurt, the damage was just more surface-level. Being so lightweight was also both a benefit and a downside, depending on the situation. They couldn’t put nearly as much weight behind their strikes, and they couldn’t stand their ground as well either. 

But on the bright side, they could move extremely quietly, jump extremely far, weren’t heavy enough for certain traps, and could safely fall from any height. They also had the semi-useful distinction of exploding into concussive blasts of air when defeated, instead of just puffs of smoke. “Semi-useful”, Kakashi decided, because the air explosions were frankly _loud as shit._ Just when it seemed like Naruto had something really stealthy and properly ninja-like in his arsenal, of _course_ the damn things had to explode at somewhere around 160 decibels.

* * *

  
So, that just left what Sasuke had managed to learn. It was kind of awkward working with him, as it seemed he wasn’t exactly sure if he trusted Kakashi or not after the Sharingan reveal, and he hadn’t unlocked his own Sharingan. (After all, Kakashi didn’t realize he’d actually unlocked it once already only to quickly lose access to it).  
  
It ended up being an addendum to his Raiton, unsurprisingly. They’d worked pretty well last time, so it would make sense that Sasuke would want to lean into that advantage harder.  
  
Of course, it wasn’t Chidori, Sasuke wasn’t ready for that without his Sharingan.   
  
Instead, it was a sort of “step one” to that technique; representing one of the most important components of Chidori, which was how to send mild lightning chakra through your nervous system to speed up your movements and reactions.  
  
Even though the whole procedure didn’t actually use all that much chakra, it was a delicate enough process that Kakashi wasn’t sure just how well Sasuke would be able to push through. Too much lightning chakra could cause pain and muscle spasms, too little and it’d just fizzle out. Then you needed to keep a perfectly steady flow, all while fighting and focusing on other things.  
  
Kakashi still didn’t expect Sasuke to learn how to keep it up _continuously_ so soon, but short bursts of enhanced speed and reaction time would still be useful, and help prepare him to handle his Sharingan better.  
  
Still, it was a good way to see just _how_ talented the Uchiha he was working with was, as Kakashi wouldn’t expect anyone else to learn how to do even _that_ much so quickly.  
  
Only time would tell how much the new abilities Kakashi gave his genin would actually help.  
  


* * *

  
Towards the tail-end of that training week, Hinata found herself training with Naruto in a forest clearing well into the night. By time they were finishing up, he was once again prodding her about her sleeping habits.  
  
That was all well and good, at least until he said something that got her particularly flustered.  
  
“Hinata-chan… would it… help you sleep if we shared a tent?” Naruto asked, surprisingly gently and a bit shyly. “I don’t like it when you’re always staying up so long like you do…”  
  
“I-I’m fine! Really!” Hinata insisted.  
  
“The night after you killed that guy, you barely slept at all… Even though I know you had to be so tired, walking all day and then burying him yourself... The night after that, the first night we stayed at Tazuna’s, you also barely slept. I know ‘cause you were right next to me... and 'cause of how you acted in the morning.”  
  
“...I don’t particularly care for him. Or trust him. Sleeping in his house is rather strange,” Hinata said honestly, as much as it still pained her to admit it whenever she didn’t like someone. Even moreso when she was seeing for herself that he was living in poverty despite technically being one of the _better off_ people in his village, thanks to being in charge of the bridge project. It felt unfair not to like him, especially when she was _technically_ rich… even if many of the benefits no longer actually applied to her. Ever since becoming a Genin, her allowance had stopped completely, and it’d already been heavily docked as it was.

“...You’re sure that’s all?” Naruto asked, squinting at her and frowning slightly. Hinata internally cringed. He wasn’t the brightest, but his perceptiveness could be surprising at times.  
  
“I also have… nightmares. And even without them… I always feel… I don’t know, guilty, or restless when I try to sleep and it feels like I haven’t done enough… and then there’s always so much to think about, so much to worry about…” Hinata said quietly.

“Hinata-chan, you’ve done so much already! And even if you’re worried or scared, that’s okay, ‘cause I promise I’ll help you with anything that’s worrying you, dattebayo!” Naruto replied earnestly, causing Hinata to fight the urge to blush. As touching as that was, it was actually a problem in itself. He meant well, but he could never fix _everything_ that was worrying her, especially not when one of those things was a big, annoying crush on him that she was miserably failing to shake off... and that he was unwittingly exacerbating by being so adorable and caring...

Hinata thought to herself for a moment. As much as she’d prefer to just be content with Naruto as a friend… There _was_ a decent chance that either one of them could wind up _dead_ or _abducted_ or some other awful thing in a couple of days.   
  
If that happened, did she _really_ want to be stuck agonizing over how she never let herself indulge in any of her feelings for Naruto?  
  
“...Well… I think sharing a tent would help,” Hinata replied, as much as part of her felt a little guilty for it. Naruto was probably suggesting the whole thing innocently, out of the goodness of his heart, and Hinata was agreeing not because she honestly thought she’d sleep better, but just because she wanted a good excuse to sleep next to her crush… Was that weird? It was, wasn’t it? Goodness, she was _such_ a creep…

But on the other hand, Hinata was also a dirty, exhausted, scared little girl, and part of her wanted nothing more than to curl up at Naruto’s side… and snuggle with him, if she were being honest, but that was probably just being greedy and creepy. If it didn’t creep him out, he’d probably think she was just some needy little baby, like the time she had a nightmare as a little girl, but Father scolded her when she wanted to sleep next to him and Mother... and then became _livid_ when she admitted the nightmare made her wet the bed… Then, Neji nii-san had offered to let her sleep next to him, but Father just yelled at him and threatened to trigger his curse seal when he found out...  
  
It was no wonder Neji had become so cold since then, when he was repeatedly shown that his kindness wouldn’t pay off…  
  
Thankfully, Hinata was distracted from thinking too much further on that by the whole process of helping Naruto set up a safe camp. Even so, Hinata's paranoia motivated her to put in quite a bit more effort than necessary.

There were proximity alarm seals, rigged to trigger a silent alarm wrapped around her arm, along with electrified tripwires, and some concealed kunai-launching seals, all positioned to protect their campsite. It was still a little nerve-wracking for Hinata’s liking, but she figured it would do.

So, the two went into the tent, and Hinata tuned Naruto’s chakra system for the last time that day, steady and careful, a series of quick taps, twists of her fingers, and presses of her palms, relishing the little sighs of pleasure that issued from Naruto as he laid himself out on top of his sleeping bag and let her work, to the extent he’d gone half-asleep and almost boneless by time she was done. From there, she quietly listened to Naruto talk about his ideas about how to use his wind clones, and answered his questions about chakra transfer, all the way until he promptly fell asleep sometime during a short lecture on the merits of emitting your chakra in timed pulses for certain situations… leaving Hinata awake by herself, which was something she’d grown used to.  
  
She quietly summoned her diary/training journal’s little holding box, having thought to also add an addendum to the sealwork involved that muffled the brief noise it created. There were extra books on sealing she’d hidden inside as well, and she got those out too. Just one hour, she told herself. One hour, and then she’d actually go to bed like Naruto-kun wanted.

* * *

  
She’d lost herself in silent murmuring, experimental sketching, and note-taking for at least two hours before Naruto grumpily sat up and glared at her, having woken for some reason Hinata wasn’t sure of. She suspected it could’ve been a nightmare, judging by how his breathing had sped up and he’d started clenching his eyes tighter and squirming more just before it happened.  
  
“Hinata-chan…” Naruto whined, more out of concern than anything. “You said…”  
  
“I know, I know! I just… this was… the thing I’m working on… it’s for you…” Hinata said quietly.  
  
“Me?” Naruto asked, voice suddenly softer and quieter.  
  
“A seal that helps regulate your chakra flow for you. Well, more precisely, I think it’s probably going to have to be a _network_ of several seals across your body, with what I know so far... It’ll be tricky, especially because I don’t want to interfere with the one you have already, but… it’d be more than worth it. Then you wouldn’t have to rely on me or the chakra-suppressant herbs so much. Maybe not at all,” Hinata said quietly.  
  
“...You keep yourself up late all the time... ‘cause you’re working on stuff to help me?” Naruto asked, his voice strangely quiet and- alarmingly- a bit choked up.  
  
“W-well, that isn’t all of it, but-” Hinata still felt a bit too embarrassed to admit she still used the time to practice unlocking Fuuton, just so she could be a little more like him.  
  
Before she could finish, Naruto had pretty much thrown himself into hugging her, which had the added benefit of making sure she couldn’t see the tears in his eyes. “I… why? Why do you always do so much, just for me?! You… staying up all night, killing that guy, getting mad at Sakura-chan, learning how to cook with me, helping me clean my house, helping me study and train, helping me get the forbidden scroll… why?! Even when something’s really hard for you, even when your dad doesn’t like it, you still keep doing it… I don’t get it, dattebayo!” he said, trying his hardest to at least somewhat control the volume of his voice.  
  
“ _Because I love you,”_ Hinata immediately thought, but she wouldn’t dare actually say it, so she settled for a different reason. “B-because you’re my best friend,” she told him, gingerly hugging him back.  
  
“...Then… I should be a better friend than this, too! I shouldn’t make you have to do all this stuff just for me! I should be able to do more for you!” Naruto replied.  
  
“You’re not _making_ me do anything, Naruto-kun. I do it because I _want_ to,” Hinata said quietly. “You’re already a wonderful friend as it is, s-so that’s why I like helping you.”  
  
“Yeah, but, you shouldn’t have to! Not this much!” Naruto shot back, frowning at her words. “I mean, it is really nice of you, don’t get me wrong, but… I get worried about you…”  
  
“I’ll be fine, Naruto-kun! I’m happy to do all of this, really!” Hinata replied.  
  
“...If you say so,” Naruto replied, skeptically enough that it broke her heart a little. “But please go to bed. Or at least try to?” Naruto asked softly.   
  
“Alright,” Hinata replied, the sad look she was getting finally convincing her to put away her things and de-summon them back to where they came from.  
  
“I know I just told you to go to sleep, but, um… just so you know, I… I’ve been having nightmares too,” Naruto said quietly.  
  
Hinata immediately felt the urge to hold him close and stroke his hair, but she merely said “Oh, no… What about?”  
  
“...What would’ve happened if that guy I was too scared to fight… got you, instead of the other way around…” Naruto said softly. “Or… you turn out okay, but then, ‘cause of what a big coward I was, you don’t like me anymore and you ask to go to a new team…”  
  
“Naruto-kun… I’m way more of a coward than you could ever be! I only even killed that man because I was so scared that my body just kind of moved on its own… A-also…” Hinata said, gathering a bit of courage. “I’ll _always_ like you. I-I… I don’t think I could stop if I tried,” Hinata continued with a small laugh, knowing Naruto had no idea she really had been trying to do exactly that and failing miserably, at least when it came to her romantic feelings.

It was Naruto’s turn to blush, chuckling softly at that last part but then once again chiding her for the first. “You’re braver than you think you are, I know it! B-but… if… if you wanted me to maybe, cuddle with you or something, I… I wouldn’t mind that at all…” Naruto said, blushing even more as he finished.  
  
Hinata knew him well enough that from the way he said it, he meant _“I’m the one who wants to do this, but I don’t want to admit it outright,”_ , so she just did her best to not seem too desperately eager when she agreed.

They were both kind of dirty and a little smelly, and there was a touch of poorly concealed desperation in Nartuo’s body language that leaked through before long, driving him to push himself in closer and closer the more he realized Hinata was actually going to allow it. Overall, Hinata wouldn’t say “romantic” was the word for it at all… but it _was_ deeply relieving, like coming home to warm stew and a thick blanket after being caught out in a storm. The moment Naruto’s arms were around her, she couldn’t help but sigh deeply, automatically feeling some of her tension leave her even as the close proximity simultaneously made her heart beat like mad. She definitely could say she reciprocated the twinge of desperation for comfort and warmth, wrapping her arms around him protectively and holding him like he could be snatched away at any moment.  
  
It really did almost feel that way, when she considered it. Father would be livid. He’d say it was disgusting and undignified, that she shouldn’t _dare_ show such _weakness,_ such _vulnerability_ to lowly scum like Naruto… That Zabuza man would probably return to settle the score any day… And then there was always the fox to worry about, always that nagging fear that soon it would create some problem for Naruto that she couldn’t so simply manage with just a bit of chakra regulation and tender care.

But that only made her want to cling to him all the more.  
  
He was _her_ Naruto, and nothing in their entire wretched world could tear him away without killing her first.

Part of her still felt guilty for that. Still felt a silent need to apologize for the selfishness, for the sheer _audacity_ of _wanting,_ for having the utter _nerve_ to _long_ in such a way. It was probably creepy, possessive, childish, **_wrong_ ** _…_ They’d all say a girl like her should have no desire, no _need_ for the love of a so-called demon child like him. _  
__  
_But by the gods, it was how she felt.  
  
She couldn’t have hugs from her mother and father. She couldn’t have a kind jonin-sensei. She couldn’t have that kind, loving Neji nii-san from so long ago. She’d had to beat one of her own trusted Academy sensei down with her bare hands, crying and screaming through the whole affair. Her last friend talked about her behind her back. Her father tried to throw all her stuffed toys away. She could hardly even spend time with her sister.  
  
So, she’d have Naruto. _Her_ Naruto. Even if it wasn’t quite the way she _wanted_ to have him, even if she’d always be _unworthy_ of _that_ sort of claim, at least she’d have her Naruto. _  
__  
_With that, Hinata fell into a sleep without a single nightmare to speak of.

* * *

But the next morning, Hinata was wild and alert, having felt the tell-tale pulse of chakra running through her flesh as the silent alarm seal wrapped around her right leg woke her. Naruto groaned and whined unhappily as she quickly untangled herself from his soundly-sleeping form, and she muttered out an apology, but this was important.  
  
Hinata quickly and silently counted the chakra pulses she felt in her head. Five. She activated her Byakugan and focused it southward, towards the direction she’d associated with that number. Each proximity seal, once triggered, was set to send a certain number of rapid chakra pulses to her silent alarm seal every few seconds, depending on which proximity seal it was. They corresponded to the cardinal and intercardinal directions on a compass, so the number of potential chakra pulses ranged from one to eight, starting with north.  
  
“Someone’s here,” Hinata said quietly. “Someone powerful,” she continued, as her Byakugan zeroed in on the intruder.  
  
“Who?” Naruto responded.  
  
“...It’s the fake hunter nin from before…” Hinata said quietly. “The mask is gone now, but I could see right through it before anyway,”  
  
“What should we do?” Naruto whispered.  
  
“Nothing yet. The proximity seals don’t do anything but alert me, so it seems like they didn’t notice those, but it’s… admittedly unlikely that the rest of this security can really stop them…” Hinata said. “But this might work out well for us… They’re not in any combat gear. No armor or seals in the fabric, and their concealed weapons are minimal. They don’t seem agitated or ready for a fight. They aren’t going to realize we recognize them. So if they come, just act natural. Make them think they still have that advantage,” Hinata continued. Naruto just quickly nodded as she continued to keep an eye on the intruder.

Sure enough, no matter how well Hinata and Naruto thought they’d set up everything else, their little intruder nimbly found their way through without triggering a single thing, managing to make their grace look almost like sheer happenstance, much to Hinata and Naruto’s continued worry. The fake hunter-nin clearly had a lot of experience on them just from being able to pull something like that off.  
  
Before long, as Hinata and Naruto pretended to be preparing to pack up camp, the intruder arrived.  
  
As much as Hinata hated to admit it, given that she had no idea what their intentions were, this intruder was _beautiful._ Long black hair, a gentle face, and a general vibe that if it weren’t for the Byakugan, Hinata wouldn’t have possibly recognized them otherwise. They were walking around with a basket of herbs, and Hinata knew from a quick examination that there weren’t even any weapons buried in them.

She did her best to put on her practiced air of harmless politeness, making herself seem small and inoffensive as she plastered on a gentle smile to match the intruder’s own.   
  
The intruder, for their part, remained shockingly calm and nonchalant, even if Hinata fought the urge to roll her eyes when they had Naruto blushing and giggling as they spoke about how he seemed like such a strong ninja, and indulged him as he bragged about how he’d become Hokage some day. It was like he’d gotten _too_ pretend-casual and forgotten the intruder was a threat at all!

She wasn’t jealous, she told herself. She was just annoyed because that was the _enemy,_ trying to butter Naruto up and _trick_ him!  
  
Still, she figured she couldn’t let herself cuddle Naruto anymore from then on. She wasn’t entitled to anything, but being so… _intimate_ with him seemed to make her forget that.

Then again, that meant she had to hope Naruto would never ask anymore, because she knew damn well she’d never want to refuse if he initiated.  
  
They got roped into helping the intruder with gathering herbs for a while, if only because Hinata wanted to keep up the air of polite harmlessness for as long as possible. She couldn’t help but feel an odd sting inside every time Naruto stared at the intruder a bit too long; every time his eyes oh-so-clearly wandered all over their body. But she was not jealous. She was just wary. That was all it was.  
  
Then things took a bit of an odd turn, because all the sudden the intruder was asking about Naruto’s motivations, and then speaking to Hinata herself in an oddly probing manner… but Hinata couldn’t help but listen.  
  
“I assume this boy is precious to you,” they said to Hinata suddenly, snapping her out of her not-jealous-thoughts. She froze, not sure whether she should confirm or deny that to a potential enemy, but they continued on undaunted, apparently knowing the answer anyway. “You have that look in your eyes like you’d do anything for him,” they said with a small smile. “That’s good. When you have someone precious you want to protect, it makes you stronger,”  
  
Hinata blushed and tried not to stammer, especially because the tone being used made it sound like they also knew _why exactly_ she’d do anything for him in the first place.   
  
“Oh, does she?” Naruto asked curiously, turning to gaze at Hinata in a way that made her face begin to heat up despite herself. “That’s great, nee-chan, ‘cause I’d do anything for her, too!” Naruto cheerily replied, as he casually wrapped an arm around her shoulders, which only made Hinata feel even more like she was going to combust. Every time she felt like she could keep her composure around Naruto, he’d go and say or do something like _that!_

“Wonderful,” the intruder responded with a gentle smile. “But I believe I have enough herbs now. I’ll be on my way, then. I hope we meet again somewhere,” the intruder said, as they began to walk away.  
  
“We already have,” Hinata boldly replied, causing the intruder to freeze in place and Naruto to quietly gasp and hurriedly glance over at her with a “ _what’re you doing?!”_ sort of expression.  
  
Hinata didn’t know exactly _what_ she was doing, but all she knew was that she couldn’t just… _let them go._ It occurred to her that it might be a bad idea to call them out, without Kakashi or Sasuke, and that letting the fake hunter-nin know she knew the secret could make them more dangerous, but… what if it was even more dangerous to let them go off without even saying anything?  
  
She definitely was not being motivated by any kind of petty, impulsive urges to unsettle them, one-up them, or ruin their air of perceived innocence in some way just because Naruto thought they were pretty and seemed to enjoy talking with them so much. No, definitely not. That wasn’t- _couldn’t_ be what it was about. She wouldn’t be influenced even a little by such childish motivations. She was a nicer person than that. She was a more careful person than that.

Wasn’t she?

Besides, it probably wasn’t too late to walk it back. All she had to do was say she was mistaken…  
  
But then the intruder, without fully turning around, asked how she knew. The tone brokered no argument. They weren’t going to believe her if she tried that. And so, the chance to take it back slipped away like smoke, and Hinata had to answer another way.

“Height, voice, hair color… I was... trained to keep traits like that in mind...” Hinata said, just rattling off simple, plausible excuses rather than the simple matter of being able to see through their mask and into their chakra as if it were easy as breathing. She was glad the genjutsu over her eyes had apparently held up overnight just fine.  
  
“I see,” they replied, finally turning back around fully. Naruto was dead silent right along with Hinata. Sometimes, even he could pick up on a tense situation. “Well, I have no quarrel with you. As a hunter-nin, you fall outside of my duties,” the intruder said.  
  
That was bait, clear as day. The fake hunter-nin wanted to know if they’d be called out for sticking to that lie. It’d been confirmed that they were recognized, but Hinata hadn’t revealed she knew any more than that.  
  
She didn’t plan to. Her moment of hastiness could’ve gone so much worse, and she couldn’t risk pushing their luck even more. If the enemy was still unwilling to make any attempt at a fight despite having such a massive opening, it was in her best interest to shut up and take that as a temporary win.  
  
When neither Naruto or Hinata responded, the intruder simply made their exit, calmly walking away for a bit before giving one last parting remark: As it turned out, they were a boy, contrary to how Naruto had been calling him “nee-chan”..

“Hinata-chan, what was that all about?!” Naruto quietly complained, as soon as the boy was out of earshot. “I thought we weren’t gonna tell that weirdly pretty boy anything about what we know about him!”  
  
“...I’m sorry, I… I just… I wanted to try and make him feel a little intimidated… because… you seemed to like talking with him so much and I didn’t want him getting too comfortable, or else he might try to get your guard down and…h-hurt you...” Hinata admitted, which was basically as close to the truth as possible without outright tacking on _‘I also decided to say something risky on the spot in a burst of jealousy, because I’m apparently just that mean and stupid.’_

“Heh, you say that, but it almost seemed like you just wanted to get him to back off ‘cause you were jealooouuusss~” Naruto teased.  
  
When Hinata just went dead silent and tomato-red, Naruto could only sit in silence with her for a few seconds before realization started to slowly dawn on him.  
  
“W… wait…” Naruto said quietly, as Hinata just hid her face in her hands in mortification, unable to even think of a good way to defend herself.  
  
“...Am… am I actually right?” Naruto asked her, disbelievingly. “Seriously, am I?” he asked softly.  
  
Hinata forced herself to give a slow nod, as much as she despised the admission.  
  
“Hinata-chan…” Naruto started, voice still in that special soft tone he only used for her.  
  
“I’m sorry…” Hinata said quietly.  
  
“No, no, don’t be!” Naruto replied. “I just… I’m just a little surprised, that’s all! What was it you’re jealous of, anyway? I mean, he was pretty and all, but I didn’t think you were the type who cared so much about that kind of thing…”  
  
“It wasn’t that, exactly! It was more, u-um… well… I know it’s untrue, and really silly, but it just… made me feel like… y-you liked some dangerous stranger more than me…” Hinata said, so quietly Naruto almost didn’t hear.  
  
“...So I should be trying harder to remind you that I like you?” Naruto asked, after a moment of thought.  
  
“Y-you don’t have to-” Hinata said quietly, but her brain promptly short circuited when Naruto suddenly pulled her in for a gentle embrace. Once again, in a voice especially soft just for her, he spoke.  
  
“Because I promise I do. More than anybody,” Naruto said quietly, rendering Hinata hardly able to even string a sentence together.  
  
M… more than… more than _anybody?_ _  
_ _  
_A quiet giddiness and a gushing warmth spread through Hinata’s entire body before she could even try to quash it. She knew that Naruto had just basically guaranteed her crush on him at least another year of life at the very minimum with that single gesture… but she could no longer find it within herself to mind. It was… it was exactly what she wanted. It wasn’t romance, but in that moment, it didn’t even need to be. It was still belonging. It was still acceptance, even after admitting to an ugly side of herself. It was being worthy, needed, _favored,_ _special._ _  
_ _  
_It was _love,_ it was _devotion,_ and all she’d received from any others immediately paled in comparison.  
  
In her elation, she forgot herself for a moment, sidling up against Naruto then giggling and squeezing as if he were an especially large teddy bear.

* * *

Of course, that just had to be when Sasuke showed up. Apparently, Naruto was so incredibly distracting to Hinata that she’d completely missed him, but to be fair she’d also relaxed her Byakugan in her rush of joy.

Naruto and Hinata practically flew apart upon noticing him, but they knew he’d seen enough.  
  
Luckily for them, Sasuke was a stoic enough person that he chose not to say anything, instead opting to just roll his eyes.  
  
Hinata couldn’t even bring herself to be too upset. She shouldn’t have been doing that anyway. Shouldn’t have been in that situation to start with. The way she cared about Naruto… it was dangerous. It had to be, she just knew it. It would be smarter and safer to pull back a little.   
  
But at the point she’d reached, that felt like asking a river to reverse its course.

She used to privately dislike Sasuke showing up, but it’d gotten to the point where it was actually something of a relief. The presence of another person helped her _control_ herself and all of her foolish feelings. And he was beginning to become… kind of reassuring, rather than something that set her on edge.  
  
“Tch. Did both of you forget about breakfast that easily?” Sasuke asked sharply.  
  
“I-I brought some with us. It’s from what I’d already packed when we left Konoha. It’s probably better this way anyway, it must be a burden to feed four more people in this kind of living situation…” Hinata said.  
  
She went about going through her bag and unsealing the bentos she’d made, pleased to find that the seal had done its job well, keeping them fresh.  
  
Before Sasuke could even try to hide it, his stomach audibly growled just at the sight of one of them being opened… _there was almost more food there than two of the breakfasts from Tazuna’s house combined…(***)_ _  
__  
_He tried his best to act casual, looking away and blushing slightly, but both Naruto and Hinata looked up at him curiously, then quickly traded another one of their “ _we’re gonna try not to laugh but probably not entirely succeed”_ looks with one another. It made sense that a twelve year old boy with a lot of chakra who was usually busy training all day, every day was going to be hungry when he was stuck doing a mission in such an impoverished country.  
  
After an awkward pause, Naruto spoke. “Well, don’t just stand around hungry for no reason! We didn’t actually eat yet, so just have another breakfast with us!”

With that invitation, Sasuke sat down and tried not to look openly pleased when he was handed a bento of his own. The food wasn’t _perfect,_ it was mainly things you could throw together quickly in bulk, and it was a bit obvious that Hinata had only made most of her improvements in cooking within the last couple of months… but compared to the rations people in Wave had to go on, it was practically heaven to Sasuke anyway.  
  
It was also enough to keep Naruto somewhat quiet for a little while, probably because being around Hinata tended to make him pay more attention to his manners so he wouldn’t try to talk while he was chewing. That was just more good news for Sasuke. He didn’t need him just yammering on and on all through the meal.  
  
Regardless, that didn’t do anything to stop him from talking between bites, but… somehow, that wasn’t so bad. Maybe it was because they gave him food, but Sasuke only found himself getting annoyed when Naruto started talking about how he and Hinata had just met the fake hunter-nin from before.  
  
“If you met him, he and Zabuza are probably going to be ready to make their move soon…” Sasuke replied.  
  
“Yeah, but we’ve gotten this far! We saved Kakashi-sensei from that damn big sword guy and everything! We’ll find some way to get through this! Right, Hinata-chan?” Naruto asked. _  
__  
_“R-right…” Hinata replied, forcing a smile. Sasuke just sighed. That idiot Naruto sure did know how to pull optimism right out his ass when he needed to...  
  
Ultimately, they never actually bothered going back to Tazuna’s house for long that day, all just training together instead. Kakashi came to check on them a couple of times, but mostly just left them to it. Sasuke couldn’t say he was too unhappy about that. Honestly, training without him was what he’d gotten used to anyway.  
  
They had a system going where they could all predominantly use the specific technique they were trying to master in the same training session. Sasuke would try to use Raiton-enhanced speed to dodge Naruto’s wind clones, while Hinata was in charge of supplying him with more chakra and Gentle Fist stimulation to keep his stamina up.  
  
It was utterly exhausting on all fronts, but rewarding enough that by time the three were finally staggering back to Tazuna’s, all having to lean on each other for support, Sasuke couldn’t say he even minded being sandwiched in the middle of the other two as they walked, especially not when he was in a state where every step kind of made him want to die a little, so being able to put so much of his weight on them was an unfathomable relief. Out of the three, his training was the hardest on his legs, but at least he probably had the most chakra left of them all. Hinata was practically looking like a zombie and dragging her feet in a tell-tale way that made it obvious she was probably going to sleep like the dead that night, typical sleep issues be damned.  
  
Naruto made them all fall on the floor by time they got back, but Sasuke somehow didn’t care as much as he felt like he should’ve.

Despite it all, honestly… It was…  
  
It was nice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Going by how long this ended up, Chapter 7 should end Wave, and then I’ll be making roughly eight to ten more chapters of extra post-Wave material before Chuunin Exams, depending on each one's length. It might sound tedious because of how Chuunin Exams is a fan-favorite arc, but I honestly think that’s about how many I’ll end up needing to be satisfied. Plus, I’m trying to up my output while Nanowrimo’s going, so hopefully that'll help too.
> 
> Here’s a short, vague, no-real-spoilers roadmap of sorts for extra stuff that'll happen before Chuunin Exams, since this part will be kind of “freehand” to an extent, compared to what I’ve done so far. The numbers are only for chronological order, not an indication of how many chapters each section will have.  
> 1: Wave aftermath.  
> 1b (concurrent with this): Some focus on Hinata's mom, and Hanabi.  
> 2: [SPOILER]  
> 3: A contest between just Konoha’s genin teams.  
> 3b: Some Konoha 12 focus without having to rush to the Exams.  
> 4: An adaptation of the Takigakure mission OVA  
> 5: A custom C-Rank for world and character building.  
> 6: Summons
> 
> So yeah, this story's gonna be a bit on the long-winded side, but honestly I just don't see the point of rushing into Chuunin Exams like canon without giving the characters time to develop more and get significantly stronger, so that you actually feel like they've come a long way.  
> Also:
> 
> *: I will say right now that “Zabuza intuits Naruto’s heritage through observation” isn’t something I came up with independently. I saw it in "With Nothing On My Tongue" by sunshineinwriting, and it was just too good to pass up. (That is a KakaNaru fic, as a fair warning. I don’t condone the ship, but it’s otherwise an interesting fic, and the portion of it that’s currently out doesn’t have KakaNaru yet.) 
> 
> **: I’m a little confused on if Uzumaki really had universally high chakra, because fans say this a lot. But officially and on the wiki, they only seem to specifically mention the strong life force… Even for Kushina, they say hers has “special properties” among Uzumaki, but I don’t recall if they really say she has an unusually high amount. But given how canon does clarify that chakra is a mix of physical and spiritual energy, I think it’s reasonable to extrapolate that into saying that a strong life force (more “physical energy”) inherently means more chakra, then. 
> 
> Meanwhile, I theorize for the purposes of this fic that Uchiha have a lot because of a predisposition to having more “mental/spiritual energy”, which kind of contributes to their willpower, their intense emotions, and having a power that develops with said intense emotions. This would also be consistent with Naruto’s “yang” leaning and Sasuke’s “yin” leaning.
> 
> Still, it’s not entirely this simple, because it doesn’t explain why the “physical/spiritual” energy take kind of implies that chakra reserves should be more dependent on the user’s own mindset and work ethic, and genetics shouldn’t be so heavily influential as to create such gigantic discrepancies even between healthy, strong-willed people. I have more to say on that later.
> 
> ***: I remember the scene with Naruto and Sasuke eating until they throw up but, the idea that there was actually enough food at once for that to even happen felt incongruous, so it didn’t happen here.
> 
> Also, one more thing: I honestly didn’t plan on Naruto reacting this negatively to the news at first… but once I started, I don’t know, it just felt more natural and refreshing to me than him just accepting it and moving on. I thought Part 1 Naruto would definitely handle the news differently than Part 2 Naruto, especially with how Part 2 Naruto comes off like he represses his negative emotions a lot more. Hinata’s influence also indirectly makes this version of him more self-critical and aware of his emotions, in the interest of making sure he’s being a good friend. (or more bluntly/negatively, to avoid being abandoned.)


	7. Try To Remain Whole

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Kurama's first awakening goes quite a bit differently.
> 
> Warnings: Gore, disturbing imagery, sections with intentionally confusing and disorganized writing, and heavy departures from canon.

Sasuke quickly noted that Inari didn’t seem at all happy with seeing him, Naruto, and Hinata coming back so beat up and exhausted. They were barely even settled at the dinner table before he was complaining about it.  
  
“Why? Why do you try so hard all the time, and get so dirty and exhausted, when it’ll never make a difference?! Why would you go through so much trouble when the weak always lose against the truly strong?!” Inari asked, fists clenching tight as he began to cry.  
  
“Shut u-” Naruto started.  
  
“Naruto,” Hinata gently warned, in that special way of hers that seemed to be able to temper Naruto like nothing else could. Sasuke wouldn’t be surprised if she ended up confessing that the Byakugan had some kind of special genjutsu like the Sharingan, it’d certainly go a long way towards explaining why it seemed like Naruto was practically put under a spell the moment she said his name a certain way.  
  
Sure, that was kind of ridiculous, but with the way Sasuke saw those two hugging and snuggling the day before, just as he found their campsite…  
  
It seemed Naruto could be under a spell after all… Just not one so literal as to involve any jutsu or chakra.  
  
“Inari-kun,” Hinata started softly. “It’s okay to be upset. The world can be cold and unfair. That much is true,” Hinata continued. Inari quieted, if only because her quiet, steady tone mandated it just so he could hear her properly. “But… that’s not _all_ it is. I-I think... the world _can_ be better... but bad things tend to, to happen on their own, m-m-more easily than good things. So, we… we all must work hard for the good things in the world. And you’re probably thinking right now, Inari-kun, that I must be saying that all these bad things that, that happened already must be because you, you didn’t… didn’t try hard enough… but that’s not true,” Hinata said softly. “I think you’ve done amazingly well even getting this far,” she continued. Inari was giving her his full attention now, and really, so was the entire table. She blushed a bit at that, fidgeting with slight discomfort, but she forced herself to keep going.  
  
“But the truth of it is, as long as the world’s unequal, I don’t think all hard work can be equal. Different people have different circumstances. We’re ninja. We can use chakra, and you unfortunately can’t. Gato has been abusing that. Of course it’s, it’s going to be hard, wh-when a bunch of poor, tired, hungry civilians try to fight... That’s… that’s not a failing, that’s just... the, the exact thing he’s counting on. Because… because he’s a _predator._ He’s a _manipulator._ So, in the end, my point is… Power brings both opportunity and responsibility. I’m trying so hard because if I have this power, then I should try to help... And, I think… if our roles were reversed… you’d want to do the same, Inari-kun. You say it’s pointless, but you’re so emotional, I think, because you’re someone who cares so deeply. Beneath all the hurt, I’m sure you’re a very sweet boy,” Hinata said, finishing with a soft smile.  
  
Inari was left silently blushing after that, still sniffling a bit but appreciably calmer. “Thank you,” he said, a bit shyly.  
  
Sasuke just blinked a couple of times.  
  
That was… actually pretty insightful. More than he was expecting, anyway.  
  
He watched Naruto busy himself with gushing about how smart Hinata was, wholly distracted from the anger he was about to unleash on Inari just moments before. Of course, Hinata just blushed and fidgeted in response, acting so obvious he honestly didn’t know how in the world Naruto could really be enough of a dumbass not to see that oversized neon billboard of a crush she had.  
  
Like, really, Naruto had been whining so much before about Sasuke getting all the girls’ attention, but the moment there was one fawning right in front of him, he was just _blind?_  
  
Typical Naruto.  
  
It was time for bed not too long after that, the three genin once again having to share a room and sleep on futons as usual.  
  
As usual, Hinata wished Sasuke goodnight… leaving Sasuke to feel a twinge of bitter _something_ as she laid down so close to Naruto...  
  
Hinata and Naruto started out simply sleeping at a close but respectable distance, after Naruto badgered her into a compromise where she was only allowed to stay up long enough that she’d still get seven hours of sleep.  
  
Since Sasuke wasn’t all that far away, he got the “luxury” of sitting through all of Naruto’s whining, pouting, and worrying regarding the issue… and when Sasuke was first to wake up at some ungodly hour thanks to a nightmare, he saw how their sleeping situation somehow managed to escalate to Naruto and Hinata snuggled up together closely, holding each other tenderly. He wasn’t sure how much of it was accidental movements in their sleep and how much of it was consciously decided on, but ultimately he decided he wouldn’t say anything about it when they woke up. After all, they actually looked really peaceful, despite simultaneously looking like they were in a position Sasuke couldn’t possibly imagine he’d enjoy. For one, they were hugging each other like teddy bears, hanging off of one another in ridiculously clingy fashion. Hinata had even flat out abandoned her actual pillow in favor of drooling slightly on Naruto’s chest, but Naruto was too busy happily slumbering away to care. To be fair, she had to deal with one of her arms being sort of awkwardly wedged beneath Naruto’s body in exchange, but she didn’t seem to mind either.  
  
Sasuke also decided not to think too hard about the brief surge of jealousy he felt as an unbidden image of him cuddling with Itachi as a kid flashed through his head, causing him to curl up and tug at his own hair as he desperately willed it to go away.  
  
He didn’t get much more sleep after that.  
  
At the very least, he got the amusement of overhearing Hinata stammering out rapid-fire apologies to Naruto once it was properly time to wake up. Apparently, that position was _briefly_ meant to be intentional, probably for comfort after a nightmare or because of worry about the mission, but neither of them had meant to fall asleep like that.  
  
Hinata also refused to look directly at Sasuke for a good while, more than a little embarrassed that he likely saw how she was cuddled up next to Naruto, and _drooling_ at that.  
  
On Naruto’s end, he was too busy trying to assuage Hinata’s worries of offending him to be too embarrassed…. His method of doing so prominently involved hugging her even more, as if to demonstrate proof that he enjoyed her being so close.

Sasuke just rolled his eyes. How long was he going to have to put up with those two and the recent surge in how weird, clingy, and over-affectionate their “friendship” was? Maybe it’d recede a little once the mission was over, Naruto had more time to recover from the emotional fallout of learning his ancestry, and they no longer needed each other’s comfort as badly, but that still left another concern...  
  
How long was Sasuke going to have to deal with the vague, unpleasant, irrational twinge of feeling left out and envious?  
  
He knew full well that being the dependent type was inadvisable when you were a ninja. To a less dire extent, too much emotional reliance on someone was a bad idea in general. In that regard, he had no interest in getting too close to either one of them. That was just setting himself up to get hurt, one way or another…  
  
But at the same time…  
  
It hurt to _not_ be close enough, too…  
  
Sasuke pushed it to the back of his mind, doing his best to ignore Inner Sasuke’s incessant babbling about how much he missed being cuddled, and doing his very, very, _very_ best to ignore that he wished it would be Naruto cuddling him.

* * *

As the group prepared to leave, Hinata briefly lingered behind to speak with Inari, fearing that the family would need protection. About enough time had passed that Hinata suspected Zabuza would be back in fighting form, not to mention how she didn’t know what other cronies Zabuza had at his disposal.  
  
She’d given him and his mother some of her warding seals to put under their clothes, but the main thing she imparted to them was something she’d managed to think up in the process of studying storage scrolls.   
  
After breakfast, she surreptitiously handed Inari a seeming unremarkable scroll, not even particularly large.  
  
“Here, Inari-kun. I made this scroll to respond to someone’s touch even if they’re not a ninja… I don’t know what’ll happen, but I... don’t want to leave you unguarded, s-so if you’re in trouble… open it fast and apply your hand to the symbol. It holds a shadow clone,” Hinata said.  
  
She’d wanted to make one to hold clones from Naruto too, but unfortunately, seals meant to affect or incorporate someone else’s chakra were inherently harder than things only involving the user’s chakra. It was also why Hinata still had a lot of work and practice ahead of her for the proposed seal network plan to help Naruto.   
  
There was still the option to just have Naruto leave a security clone without using a seal, but Hinata figured he and Inari weren’t on particularly good terms, and further figured that it was best for him to conserve his chakra and his focus even if he did have a lot more chakra than her. Keeping a clone out at such a distance all morning was different from putting it dormant in a seal until it was needed. Sure, Naruto could probably handle it pretty well after getting acclimated to so much shadow clone training, but… he’d been training so hard for a week straight, and besides that, Hinata felt like she was too reliant on him as it was.  
  
It was like every reminder to herself to try being more independent somehow accomplished the opposite. Those reminders required thinking of herself without Naruto… and that required thinking of Naruto without _her._ Who would care about him? Who would help him train and study? Who would reassure him, who would hold his hand, who would make sure he ate properly and slept well, who would keep him company, who would support him when so many people and things seemed to be against him? If someone else _did_ do it, how would she know they were doing it _right?!_ Sasuke still had lingering tendencies to be closed off and argumentative with him, and _Kakashi_ of all people _certainly_ couldn’t be trusted to be in charge of him without oversight! So, when she thought of that, she’d get _scared_ . And when she got scared, she immediately wanted Naruto again, which would end up setting her right back at square one.  
  
Still, Hinata tried her best to dispel those thoughts as Inari took the seal and thanked her quietly. Soon after, Hinata was on her way.  
  
It wasn’t too long at all before Hinata’s clone found herself gasping and sputtering, assailed with a sudden flurry of light and sound as Inari desperately hid behind her.  
  
“Hinata nee-chan,” Inari whispered with a quiet sob, as she looked up and found his mother Tsunami flanked on either side by a pair of ronin, rogue samurai. They were none too pleased to see her materializing from nowhere, by the livid expressions they gave her and the way their grips on their swords tightened.  
  
Although it did seem they could use chakra, as she divined from activating the Byakugan, they didn’t look particularly powerful at all. It was a small comfort, as much as it made her nervous to have to protect someone with only a clone of herself.  
  
As Inari cried, and Hinata watched him even without turning her head, she couldn’t help but be assaulted with memories of Hanabi, sitting and desperately holding back tears as she nursed a litany of the tell-tale little pockmark bruises and welts, the particular kind with their deep, throbbing, tingling pain that came only from sparring against the Gentle Fist.  
  
Hinata would often be there, gingerly applying ointment for her and reminding her not to cry, or else Father would get angry, or else Neji might come by and sneer at them, eyes cold and judging…  
  
(Even though Hinata could remember, ever so faintly, how Neji had been just as excited as her when Hanabi was born, could remember the way he focused so intently on what toy to get her for her first birthday, only for him to find the little girl insufferable and hardly worth his attention by the time she was three)  
  
The two samurai goaded Hinata, and Tsunami just wanted her to take Inari and run…  
  
But that wasn’t a real option, as tempting as it was. Even if Tsunami would miraculously end up safe somehow, the shadow clone needed to be used as economically as possible. Running would just be a waste of energy in exchange for still being able to be tracked down later.  
  
In an instant, a Substitution had Tsunami and Hinata’s positions traded, and with her heart pounding in her ears, Hinata struck out in a flurry of movement. It was terrifying, but… one wrong move, and she’d leave two civilians defenseless.  
  
As the two samurai collapsed, twitching and paralyzed, Hinata finally breathed a sigh of relief, even as she felt herself slowly coming undone. Being so frightened had inhibited her chakra control and made her sloppy in her attack, knowing that she’d lose if she were hit even once.   
  
It was no wonder that the shadow clone technique wasn’t typically popular for combat like this when most people had to deal with such a harrowing thought looming over them...  
  
At the very least, she hadn’t killed either one of them… even if one of them was quietly, fretfully babbling about not being able to feel his legs, and the other was hacking, sputtering, and obviously having trouble breathing.  
  
She tried not to think about whether or not any of that would be permanent. Tried not to worry about all the internal bleeding she could already see. She’d been so afraid she honestly wasn’t sure how easy she’d really managed to go on them. But she’d had to defend someone else. It wasn’t her fault. It was part of the mission. If two people ended up with lifelong health complications because of her own sloppy means of defense, well… they started it, didn’t they?  
  
She had to keep telling herself that or else she’d probably just dispel on the spot from the sheer mental stress of it all.

She distracted herself by going about asking the family for rope to further restrain the two ronin, and loudly humming to herself as she stood watch over her two defeated foes and still tried not to think too much about how badly they might really be wounded on the inside…  
  
At least until Tsunami and Inari really did come back from some other room with the requested rope, and as it turned out, the samurai who complained of breathing troubles didn’t even last through his partner getting tied up before he started choking on his own blood…  
  
Hinata’s clone abruptly dispelled at that, unable to bear it any longer.  
  
Maybe if she disappeared fast enough she wouldn’t properly remember or absorb the fact that her kill count had just gone up again.  
  
Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry...

* * *

  
Off on the incomplete bridge, Hinata winced in the midst of battle, feeling a rush of chakra and distant experiences flood into her body and make the world briefly spin.  
  
The clone may not have had a great experience, but it wasn’t looking great for the real her either. With little warning, Haku and Zabuza struck soon after they arrived, and before she knew it, Sasuke was stuck in some odd jutsu of floating ice mirrors with Haku while Kakashi had to fend off Zabuza, and she and Naruto had to protect Tazuna.  
  
Of course, Naruto’s first impulse was to abandon Tazuna and rush off to help Sasuke, and as much as Hinata also wanted that, they couldn’t just charge in.  
  
“Naruto-kun!” she called “Not yet! We don’t know anything about what he can do! If we charge in, we might be a liability!”  
  
“But we can’t just leave him there by himself!” Naruto shot back.  
  
“I know! Just… hold on, I… since Sasuke’s surrounded, if I can get a clone over there, and you make some extras to cover for me, I can use the Byakugan and help Sasuke coordinate his movements from the outside. Your clones can find a way to free him, in the meantime,”  
  
“Good thinking!” Naruto replied, but she didn’t have too much time to bask in the rush of warmth those words sent shooting through her. She was already busy going through the seals for a shadow clone.  
  
That part at least went off without a hitch, one of Hinata’s clones flanked by about fifteen of Naruto’s, deftly swooping over and around the fight between Kakashi and Zabuza. Naruto already seemed to know well enough that they shouldn’t interfere in a jonin-level battle unless things turned out anything like last time and Kakashi was truly up against a wall.  
  
Zabuza seemed irritated to let them all go past, but Kakashi was keeping him too busy for him to do much about it.  
  
So, the clones were free to fan out and surround the entirety of the ice mirror structure, collectively gritting their teeth as they watched Sasuke get repeatedly impaled with flurries of senbon.  
  
Hinata’s clone had her Byakugan working overtime, examining the mirrors for weaknesses or any special traits worth noting. If the chakra holding them together had any defects at all, they’d need to target those right away.  
  
The Naruto closest to her looked to her with a hard-set expression for direction, clearly bursting to take action.  
  
“Naruto, don’t go in! If you use focused Fuuton, that should be enough,” Hinata said, while also signalling to Sasuke to prepare himself.  
  
The Naruto clone nodded eagerly, shouting a heads-up to Sasuke and the other clones before unleashing a powerful straight-line gale that Sasuke was thankfully ready for, catching the wind to boost his speed… only for Haku to intercept in the blink of an eye, using Fuuton of his own before disappearing into a mirror again.  
  
Hinata tensed at that, and Naruto openly swore as Sasuke was knocked brutally off course by the powerful concussive blast of wind, skidding and rolling across the concrete. Hinata mentally chastised herself for not being better at discerning precise chakra compositions. If she were, then she potentially could’ve known right away that Haku could use Fuuton too, rather than his ice abilities just being a specialization of Suiton like she’d originally thought.

Regardless, Naruto kept at it, using wind to alternate between impeding Haku’s movements and trying to free Sasuke. In that time, Hinata quickly had another idea, just as Haku attempted to strike with more senbon.  
  
“Naruto, your _other_ clones!” said Hinata’s clone, narrowly managing to bat the senbon away with quick strikes of chakra repulsion. The closest Naruto clone nodded, and rapidly went through the necessary seals to sacrifice the remainder of his limited chakra for a wind clone.   
  
In a blustering _crack_ of blur-inducing speed, the new wind clone moved with such haste that even Haku could no longer keep up, missing his senbon strike by a clear margin as the clone raced through the center of the mirror trap and hauled Sasuke out in no time flat. Regardless, it didn’t look like a pleasant experience for Sasuke by any means, especially not when he proved too heavy for the more fragile nature of Naruto’s wind clone to handle for any longer than that brief instant. He swore sharply when he went tumbling to the ground a few meters away, and once again when the wind clone promptly detonated right next to him, but the most important thing was that he’d successfully been freed.  
  
Not that Haku was done though, as he just briefly appeared to look at the group with an air of casually fake-cheerful fascination before flickering through a string of hand-signs that had ice spreading across the ground at a worrying clip, simultaneously sacrificing many of his mirrors to repurpose them for the technique. Once it had achieved a decent level of spread, he simply dove straight in, disappearing completely.  
  
Almost immediately, Hinata, Naruto, and Sasuke were subject to its intended purpose. Unlike normal ice, it was _unnaturally_ slippery, the chakra it was infused with counteracting whatever chakra they tried using to steady themselves. In fact, trying to do so only made their footing _worse._ Even with Hinata’s clone holding on to a couple of Naruto’s in a bid for extra balance, they hardly lasted long before Haku easily emerged halfway from the ice to dispatch them all with yet more senbon, then made his move on Sasuke.  
  
It was immediately and gruesomely clear why Haku had left some of the mirrors active, because his next attack was not more senbon, but a couple of the remaining ice mirrors immediately gaining razor sharp edges and transforming with a fluid grace into massive ice shuriken, before whistling through the air with deadly intent.  
  
Or… was the intent _really_ deadly?  
  
Hinata’s main body still had the Byakugan active, and it _did_ seem very odd that right when Sasuke was hunched and vulnerable on the ice, with no way to dodge as easily as he could before, Haku suddenly switched to a bigger, more dramatic, but _slower and more wasteful_ attack. Sure, the ice was fast and scary in its own right, with much more flair than mere senbon, but Sasuke was perfectly lined up for all kinds of much quicker, simpler kills.  
  
Thinking about it in detail, it was really no wonder Haku only managed to have both of the giant ice shuriken he sent go embedding themselves deep into the concrete and totally missing their target, while Sasuke took advantage of the ice to just haphazardly slide out of the way.  
  
Zabuza was still embroiled in his duel with Kakashi, but his booming voice could be heard taunting Kakashi about Sasuke’s safety after those ice shuriken had loudly pierced nearly a foot deep into the bridge. Desperately, Hinata tried to think of what else she could possibly do. She could already see Naruto trying to make more clones, and had to move as fast as she could to stop his hand signs.

“Naruto-kun… if you use more clones, they won’t be able to dodge properly anymore, so they’re mostly a waste of chakra…” Hinata started. Her heart pounded, there was mounting pressure behind her eyes, and there was a lump in her throat, as she cursed herself for how tired she was already feeling. She’d only recently prepared that sealed clone she’d given to Inari… She should’ve made more of those when she still had the chakra. She really hated what she was going to suggest next, but it was looking like the only real option. “I’ll go help Sasuke-kun directly, since clones aren’t a good option anymore. Protecting Tazuna is our mission, and you’re more durable than I am. I can parry the senbon, so-”  
  
“No!” Naruto protested, and Hinata flinched at both the genuine _pain_ in his voice and the tension of simultaneously watching Sasuke off in the distance, trying and failing to use the compressed, explosive version of Great Fireball to break up the icy ground beneath him while Haku made it shoot up in icy stalagmites of lethal beauty. “It’s just like I’ve said before! It’s not fair that you’re always doing everything for me, even when it’s a big risk for you! Fighting Haku is the more dangerous thing right now, so I need to be the one to go! I’m tougher and I have way more chakra, dattebayo!”  
  
Hinata flinched, shrinking back a bit and looking away, although with her Byakugan active it didn’t really change much of anything from her perspective. Naruto’s expression softened quickly, and he almost seemed ready to relent… But as much as she absolutely hated admitting it, his argument made sense. “...Okay. You have a point. Just… please, _please_ be careful. I’ll temporarily stimulate your system first,” Hinata said. Naruto just quickly nodded as she went about using the Gentle Fist and just a bit of chakra transfer to do her best to briefly boost his alertness and reflexes, although she couldn’t help but sympathetically grimace when Naruto grit his teeth in response. Chakra that exerted the pressure and density of Naruto’s was really better off _not_ being intentionally agitated or stimulated by outside sources, unless it was an emergency. Unfortunately, it _was_ an emergency.  
  
“G-good luck,” Hinata said quickly, restraining the spurt of self-hatred and the urges to cry she felt just before Naruto took a massive running leap towards Sasuke. If only she were stronger and had more chakra like him, if only she were better prepared, if only she were smarter and braver... she could be doing more to back him up…  
  
She restrained all the horribly inopportune urges to get in a hug too, or gods forbid, some hasty, inexperienced kiss. She was still on her self-imposed mission to get over him, even if she’d only managed to ~~love~~ like him more than ever. More practically speaking, they didn’t have any time to bog themselves down with how weird and distracting that would be, and she _really, really,_ ** _really_** did not want to have to talk about it later.  
  
But it wasn’t the time to be pitying herself. She had to keep an eye on things, she had to see if there was anything she could still manage with what limited strength she had left…

* * *

  
Meanwhile, Naruto landed between Sasuke and Haku with a rather unceremonious crash, fuming internally as he had to scrabble about like a giraffe on roller skates while trying to give a punchy speech about beating Haku’s ass and protecting Sasuke. Why did there have to be so much damned ice making it hard to do anything cool?!  
  
It wasn’t like Sasuke was really doing all that much better, given that he was _standing,_ at least, but kind of looking like a drunken baby deer as he did it, legs twisting and shifting slightly every-which-way as he kept desperately adjusting to accommodate. That at least made Naruto feel _slightly_ better about the whole thing.  
  
“If you’re going to help, at least make a more impressive entrance, dumbass,” Sasuke griped.  
  
“Shut up! I’m doing what I can here!” Naruto shot back. “It’s not like I could just leave you alone with this guy! There’s huge-ass ice spikes and shit everywhere, I can’t let you get skewered, dattebayo!”  
  
“Well, you got any bright ideas on how to handle the fucking ice, genius?! Otherwise, you’re just gonna end up the same way!” Sasuke shot back, tacking on a pained grunt at the end after he slid out of the way of only _most_ of a senbon volley.  
  
“As a matter of fact…” Naruto started, before summoning up dozens upon dozens of clones… and then just having them all flop down on the ice.  
  
As odd and anticlimactic as it seemed, Sasuke instantly understood what Naruto was getting at, as he successfully climbed on top of one and found it durable enough to support his weight. More importantly, although it still slid around some, it was much more stable footing than the ice itself.  
  
“Heh! Not bad, huh?” Naruto called out to him, now easily dodging a few more senbon from a noticeably somewhat shocked Haku.   
  
“I guess this is what they mean by ‘just dumb enough to work’,” Sasuke begrudgingly admitted, as he quickly leapt from clone to clone, doing his best to ignore their grunts of complaint.  
  
Naruto only grinned when Haku quickly went through another string of hand-signs to have more ice spikes come up and start breaking through the clones, but Naruto just grinned wide.  
  
“Knew you’d try that!” Naruto called to him, as he responded by simply replenishing the supply and giving Haku an unpleasant reminder that all of those clones could still do quite a bit more than just passively lie there.  
  
From then on, Haku could hardly get a jutsu in edgewise or properly disappear into his own ice again, because clones were constantly harassing him with throwing weapons, exploding tags, and weak fire or wind jutsu, all while Naruto just kept on replacing them every time he was starting to clear an acceptable number of them out.  
  
“Are you even taking this seriously?” Haku asked, face noticeably pinched into an expression of barely-concealed irritation over the fact that he was honestly being challenged by one of the silliest tactics he’d ever seen. “Wasting so much chakra just for… for _this?”_ Haku asked, kicking aside a clone that tried to grab him and pull him down.  
  
“Aww, is someone getting a widdle angwy that it’s wowking?” Naruto taunted in a high-pitched voice, able to see the beginnings of clear exhaustion in Haku’s demeanor.  
  
“Cut it out!” Haku retorted, over a cacophony of face-down clones starting to call him rude names and mock him.  
  
“And what if I dooon’t~” Naruto sing-songed back, he and Sasuke avoiding yet more senbon as he laughed and somersaulted across his self-made clone carpet, noting how the throws were getting sloppier each and every time.  
  
“Then… then you’ll just die!” Haku retorted as he parried more kunai with a shield formed from one of the earlier ice mirrors. There was an edge to his tone that Naruto wasn’t expecting, giving both him and Sasuke pause.   
  
“This… this isn’t supposed to be _fun!_ This isn’t supposed to make you _laugh!”_ Haku cried, as he summoned up another ice mirror and fashioned it into a floating platform to escape the harassment of the clone carpet below. “I’m trying to kill you! _You’re_ trying to kill _me_! Act like it!”  
  
“...Why don’t _you_ act like it?” Sasuke responded, after a brief, somewhat awkward pause.  
  
“What’re you-” Haku started, but Sasuke quickly interrupted.  
  
“Who in their right mind stops in the middle of a fight just to scold someone about ‘not taking it seriously’? If you really want to win, that’s a terrible idea!” Sasuke scolded.  
  
“Also, like, no one said we’re trying to kill you… I mean… even if you are technically working with the bad guy… you were nice to Hinata-chan and I in a way that literally wouldn’t help you at all,” Naruto said.  
  
“Perhaps I planned it all on purpose specifically so you’d think that and I could kill you at a time like this. Ever consider that?” Haku asked.  
  
“Okay, but then why would you literally explain your plan to me just now if that’s really what you were after, then?” Naruto replied, without missing a beat. The hordes of Naruto beneath him murmured their agreement.  
  
Haku actually went slightly red at that, and he noticeably had to bite back a scowl. “M-maybe I have another, secret plan and I’m just using this one to distract you!” Haku replied, noticeably getting rather defensive. “Don’t be so ready to discount your opponent just because you think you see emotion! We ninja are nothing but tools, after all!”  
  
“Really, now, weirdly pretty nii-san… If your heart’s not in it, why keep doing it anyway?” Naruto asked, with complete sincerity. “It’s not like this is the only way for you to get money, and Gato’s a civilian while you make the floor explode into ice spikes just by moving your hands all fancy, so I don’t see what exactly he’s able to hold over you that’s so important that-”  
  
“Enough!” Haku said, before launching his most massive barrage of senbon yet, a veritable _storm_ of them, thanks to the fact that many of them were actually formed from and telekinetically launched out of the surrounding ice.   
  
Naruto gasped, feeling suddenly as if everything were in slow motion. Not enough time to dodge, not enough time to block, shit, shit, shit, sh-  
  
But just before Naruto was hit, there was a blur of blue and dark white… and then, a short distance away, there was Naruto on his back, having only a few more senbon for his troubles... while Sasuke was beside him, positively _riddled_ with them…  
  
But rather than just collapsing on the spot, he looked up at Haku with a pair of blood-red eyes that held two tomoe each… and a _fury_ beyond words.  
  
Naruto and Haku alike stared in astonishment.  
  
“If you’re going to keep being wishy-washy, I don’t have any more time to deal with you,” Sasuke said lowly, body subtly crackling with lightning chakra as he willed it to keep moving, forced nerves to keep firing despite everything.  
  
Unfortunately, Haku settled things right then and there.  
  
A second massive wave of senbon came, just when Naruto thought he’d be too tired to manage another attack of that magnitude… and Sasuke, with the last bit of responsiveness in his body, moved to shield Naruto.  
  
Why.  
  
Why?!  
  
First Hinata, now him, falling over themselves to risk everything just for his sake?  
  
 _Why?!_  
  
“Sasuke, what the hell?! Why’d you do that?!” Naruto cried, as Sasuke dropped to one knee, trembling all over.  
  
“....How… should I know?” Sasuke said, voice choked and gravelly, before he collapsed entirely.  
  
Naruto didn’t know quite what happened next. One moment he was looking at Sasuke, then he was looking at Haku… then his eyes were brimming with tears… then…  
  
It was somewhere dark, wet, and musty, and he was standing in front of the bars of a _massive_ cage.  
  
And staring back at him was… A fox? An unbelievably, horrendously large fox?  
  
But… it…  
  
It wasn’t right.  
  
Naruto broke out in a cold, clammy sweat, eyes darting every which way as he struggled to _comprehend_ the thing. It wasn’t right _at all._ _  
_ _  
_The edges were _wrong_ and blurry, _wispy,_ not all there but also _too there,_ with sharp little fractals that hardly ever seemed to branch out like they should, and then the overly harsh pulses of color and strobing fluctuations that made him a bit nauseous.   
  
The creature was lying on the ground, submerged just a bit in the murky, musty, stagnancy that went up to Naruto’s ankles. It yawned and its whole head opened like an awful, impossible flower, jaw splitting open into eight different segments instead of just upper and lower. The tongue splayed out and unfolded into a massive, lurid, pulsating bunch of stigma with an oozing stamen in the center, while skin and fur peeled away from the head in great sheaths, revealing semi-blackened, pus-ridden flesh underneath the whole left half, but simultaneously shaping itself into something not unlike a ring of massive, but horrifically ugly, fleshy, sinuous flower petals.  
  
Naruto held his breath, noting how the whole place seemed to spin and how there was an _ungodly stench_ that burned his eyes and made him want to gag. There was a feeling in his head, a _pressure,_ a _pounding,_ and mounting _anger_ as the creature before him shifted closer, pushing its repugnant visage up against the bars of its prison.  
  
Hate and desperation seemed to flood into Naruto with every centimeter it managed to get closer to him. He tried to back away, only to realize he was rooted in place, quite literally, the roots red and pulsating and more like _veins_ than anything. They had half-formed _eyes_ too, and jagged little teeth, growing where there should’ve been thorns, perhaps.  
  
Naruto looked back up, eyes watering profusely, and cleared them just enough to notice how it was not just the left side of the creature’s head that was pus-ridden and atrocious. The _entirety_ of the left side was like that, skin sloughing off not unlike decaying leaves and the thin outer coating of a birch’s trunk. The underlying muscle was gnarled and darkened, hardened almost like an old tree where it wasn’t oozing and pus-ridden, and Naruto could only be silently grateful that he wasn’t seeing any giant unholy maggots or parasites plaguing the damnable thing that laid before him.  
  
The left leg and paw looked _withered,_ almost like an unwrapped mummy, and it seemed like there were great, spiralling roots wrapped around it just to give it some semblance of proper mobility.  
  
The creature gave a low, miserable moan, and suddenly Naruto was assailed with more implacable rage and unfathomable sorrow. Images assaulted his mind at an unbearable pace, filling it seemingly to bursting with chaos and malice and a distant, empty longing. Images of blood, violence, predators ripping apart prey, _broken_ things of all kinds. Pots, vases, bones, stems, branches, buildings, stones, corpses with ragged limbs…  
  
A lone, lone tree, massive beyond conception…  
  
Naruto sobbed, falling to his knees in water that was becoming more like a thick, awful, stinging gruel.  
  
He understood, in this moment, that this was a _broken_ thing.   
  
That _he too,_ was a _broken thing._ _  
_ _  
_ _That the world should break the most, crack the widest, split the deepest, for the sins it’d permitted._  
  
Naruto felt hate settle into every nook and cranny of his soul, taking like weeds to it. Pulsing through him with thin little roots, hot and seeking, entrenching themselves into his veins and growing engorged with his tumultuous essence. Devastation was their soil. Desperation was their water.  
  
White-hot _rage_ was their _light._ _  
_ _  
_Naruto felt not just a searing wave of bloodlust, but a sudden, unbearable _thirst._ As if he were naught but an empty husk left to bake in the desert, pulling itself along on wrath and writhing alone.  
  
He laughed, wheezing and breathless, and got the strangest feeling that he did not laugh for his own sake. His body was searing hot and yet feather-light, sharper than knives and yet painful to move. Power strobed through his veins like mad, threatening to either burst them or scorch them bone-dry, whichever came first.  
  
It was okay if he was breaking, broken, ruined, torn, cleaved, ravaged, a ragged thing drifting asunder.  
  
All the world would _shatter_ with him, and he’d be there to feast on the entrai-  
  
Clarity mercifully struck him for just a moment. Just long enough to see Haku crying, Haku asking him for death, before the ice-wielder suddenly snapped his head up and made a mad dash for Zabuza and Kakashi, trying to intercept what Naruto saw was a wild fistful of lightning from Kakashi.  
  
Hinata got there first.  
  
Naruto’s heart leapt into his throat.  
  
The world seemed like it was in slow motion as the hand went deeper, deeper, deeper, deeper….  
  
Naruto didn’t- couldn’t- wouldn’t understand. Why did she- How did she- What- She couldn’t-  
  
Kakashi’s eyes were saucer-wide and haunted, absolutely transfixed…   
  
Haku was just centimeters away from it, staring down at Kakashi’s hand, his expression pale, drawn, and breathless.  
  
Naruto could feel his mind shredding itself apart, hot and feral and _agonizing…_ _  
_ _  
_And then, with a relieved little sigh… Hinata vanished in a burst of white smoke.  
  
All at once, the writhing, hateful madness began to recede.   
  
Just a shadow clone.  
  
Just a shadow clone, thank _fuck,_ holy _shit,_ but, that still didn’t- It didn’t explain-  
  
He bolted to where the _real_ her would be, tackling her into a tearful hug before she could even quite register what was going on.  
  
“Don’t scare me like that!” he shouted. “Why’d you even do that?! That must’ve used a lot of chakra! You can’t- You can’t go leaving on me, okay?! Sasuke- Sasuke, he already-”  
  
“Naruto…” Hinata said, voice soft and tired as she hugged him back and began to carefully stroke the back of his head, in a way that confused him slightly. She was being so… calm? She had to have seen it too, hadn’t she? She had the Byakugan, shouldn’t she have seen that- that-  
  
They were interrupted by the arrival of a horde of intimidating men. Gato came out in front of them to speak to Zabuza for a short while, but as soon as Naruto felt the threat the man radiated, remembered that it was ultimately because of _him_ that Sasuke was dead, saw the way some of the men leered at Hinata…  
  
That unbearable thirst returned with a vengeance.  
  
Naruto slid back, back, back into a world of darkness, rot, and writhing, and the rage and terror that hadn’t quite receded once again **_slammed_** into the forefront of his mind, breaking apart all reason and restraint, digging in with its roots and doggedly resisting any of Naruto’s feeble attempts to talk it down.  
  
Naruto felt himself leap forward and make contact with something hot and sticky. He burbled with a foreign glee and jolted his face forward to revel in the dizzying rush of a thirst briefly sated at last, releasing a muffled cackling as he chewed at something bursting with fluids. Oh, how glorious it felt on his bark fur skin fur skin!  
  
He moved again, leapt up and felt things _shatter_ beneath him as his heart of hearts gave an exultant cry, and his mouth split wide and sharp with teeth, teeth, _teeth._  
  
A bite, a crunch, a flurry of claws and metal and a spray of his beautiful iron-tinged _prize,_ sending him chittering and flailing with a desperate glee as he went about unwrapping all the beautiful _gifts_ being offered to him, all the things his thirsty roots maw demanded.  
  
His eyes swam with hot, flowing life, life, life but they weren’t necessary, weren’t needed, his domain was everything and _HE_ was everything and Life and Renewal and he’d held the world together with ~~roots paws roots hands feet~~ roots, why did they take it away, why, why couldn’t he save Sasuke, who’s Sasuke, he didn’t know, doesn’t know anything anymore, why did they make him a ~~foxboymonsterfreakbrokenlosthelpmeplease~~ he it they she he it didn’t understand, he didn’t see how, it was so thirsty, it was probably that creature, that mortal biped heathen, he it she he would choke it betwixt ~~its his branches paws vines hands~~ paws, the thing they called fireshadowwindwaves, impossibly strong, too strong, too wise a fool, to call on Death to defeat Life-  
  
He sent power into the world, to remind it of its old friend (to beg for help), and was met with wind rushing inwards, waves leaping, nose picking up a world of salt spray and pain, and he cackled as he dove into the chaos, the fear, the confusion and loathing.  
  
It made them match, match, match, how wonderful for ~~him her them it~~ him, he was pain and so were they, he was Life and they would give him back unto him, give ~~him his her their our~~ him Spirit that He/We/They Lost all because of that burning shade and the red, red throb of that cretin, that half-ruined _mistake_ , encroaching unto him, stealing him, twisting what was already so constrained and confused and whywhywhywhy it wasn’t fair wasn’t fair Hinata help please help it hurts it hurts wanna die wanna kill you die die _die_ _die_ _DIE_ …  
  
He felt lifewater and iron and squishing textures between his teeth again, and it was wretched but so _right_ he’d never stop.  
  
 _(This is wrong this is badbadbad this isn’t me I’m not a predator I am but I’m not they made me they tricked me they forced me they molded me like clay because their Eyes_ ** _LIED_** and _told the World they Could and I said No butbutbutbut I’m not I’m am not am am not you me this destroy protect create protect annihilate, why am I like this why can’t I be me again why I’m ~~Life human God shinobi boy monster tree~~ Life, why, where is the rest of ~~me them me them~~ me I/we need helphelphelphelp Hinata please I need you I- who, who’s that, who am I whatamIhelpsomeonehelppleaseplease,,,)_ _  
_  
He drank, he inhaled, and Yin filled him, terrifying and intoxicating and never, never, never enough. Puddles before a barren ocean, raindrops before a storm, it was _infuriating_ and it was _their fault,_ theirs, because before they’d spilled his ~~blood sap essence soul sap~~ life across the land and it soaked everything and it made them _strongtoostrongtoomuchsowhyareyousoweak, why, why are you so small and pathetic and empty-_

 _i’m so_ ** _thirsty please it’s your fault it’s yours this, this_** _is why you have to_ ** _DIE_** _like Sasuke you’re_ _ungrateful and greedy and cruel and i hate you but i’m supposed to love you why can’t i love you why can’t you love me what did i do wrong i just want to be good like you told me like you_ **_made_** _me i promise no i’m lying no i swear i’m telling the- lying that i’m promising i’m lying i’m_ ** _Truth Itself_** _lying as i’m telling you this isn’t right and i’m wrong and you’re wrong and i hurt so we hurt because i’m_ ** _you_** _, i’m_ ** _all_** _, and_ ** _everything_** _,_ ** _always_** _, but i’m_ ** _not_** _, because you didn’t want me because I couldn’t_ ** _love_** _you right because I couldn’t_ ** _serve_** _you right because that’s not why I_ ** _am_** _but you all_ ** _forgot_** _so you_ ** _cut me out_** _and you’re all_ ** _thieves_** _and i hatelovehate you all and so be part of me forever like good children except no you’re no children of mine you’re cancer you’re disease you’re_ ** _RUIN._** ** _  
_** ** _  
_** _...andthatmakes two three (how many? nine? Nine now? Nine of me? Nine from me? can’t remember won’tremember hurts hurts hurts please just let me/us be Me/Us why did you Name why did you Anchor why must your Intent have this Power it’s Wrong there were no Words before there were no Signs there were no Jutsu we/I did not write we/I did not invent we/I just Were/Was and it was Better so why did you tie the World to them how did you make the World lend you its countless ears what makes you all so special that you Deserve your Authority I don’t Understand and I HatehatehateHATE It.)_ _  
_ _  
_His blood splattered, and so did theirs, and there grew saplings and vines and moss and flowers with eyes and brambles with teeth-thorns and red twitching leaves and fleshy bark erupted from people’s skin and twigs from their wounds and chakra-guzzling roots of muscle and sinew around their slash marks and they screamed at things that grew in whorling fractals and pulsed with blood and bile as they branched into impossible, wretched, too-sharp angles and it was what they deserved so why did it _hurt_ why was he so _tired_ why was this **_happening_** _-_

 _w_ -where, where’s Hinata doesn’t matter she hates you now she hates you you’re garbage you’re broken you’re rotten and festering and gods please Hinata it hurts please be okay please save me please stay away from me i’ll kill you too please please please im sorry i hate this i want to kill you- i love you- please die- i’m so sorry you have to see me like- please let me eat you- you’re so wonderful i- want to tear you apart and drown in your blood- run away before its too- lateateateat eat you alive heart first still screaming still writhing sorry Sasuke i’m so sorry i’m so sorry i’m so sorahaHAhaHa _Ha_ ** _Ha_** - _  
_ _  
_The flora reminded him she him them he of another, another _wretched_ one, another _too strong,_ but only because they’d _trusted him,_ thought he _wouldn’t,_ gave him that power because they thought he understood what they were asking but he didn’t because of course he didn’t no one ever did everyone failed this test time and time againagainagainagain, they were all flawed and selfish and short-sighted and yet somehow this time Everyone and Everything had to pay the price, all because he’d been wrongfully blessed to call upon the might of Life and the essence of what they all once were, because of a land of Spirals, because of a vile accomplice who had Chains in their soul and a mind sharper than claws, who’d come from a place where beings beneath the waves whispered Secrets of Ink and Binding.  
  
But surely the Spiral Progenitor hadn’t known they’d do _this,_ no more than the Moon Progenitor knew what theirs would do with their eyes.   
  
But then again They weren’t supposed to exist either, no ** _Progenitors_** , no, that was wrong, that was the ~~blood sap blood essence sap~~ blood that spilled, that was the rot of roots, the world thrown into chaos, beasts too strong too large too knowing too different, never do Toads forge weapons, never should there be a Slug Eternal, never should Snakes speak, never nevernever _never_ but it all happened it all come to pass and it was his fault hishishersourstheirs, and if he could be like he before... (not a fox, Never a Fox, how DARE they, he wasn’t a fox ~~he she they it~~ he was not Anything except Everything and they had not _asked for_ ** _this_** _or had they they didn’t know they didn’t know anything anymore everything was nothing and it ached and spun and stung and where was he and what was it and why and how the world was it he was why no more need to think but what is happened to me pleasesomeoneithurtspleaseplease-_ ), he would still stand tall and whole and things would be Right and One but no, he’d Fallen she’d Splintered they’d Scattered it’d **_Failed_** and _I’m sorry Sasuke_ the World will pay the price soon, soon, **_soon_** …  
  
There were scattered shouts and flailing limbs all around. His body burned. His _soul_ burned. Too unsafe, to press... on? Butthat’simpossible he is immortal he is everywhere he is what all Life will be and once was how how _howhowhow_ \- Not enough Yin never enough Yin what did they do to him why was it never enough why did it hurt and bleed and split split _split_ **_split_** , why is thinking like caging _wildfires and smoke_ why and what and how and it’s so _strange_ and _vile_ and he they she it we **_hated_** it and nothing was the same anymore but ~~He the boy him fox Life his host~~ he was _so tired just wanna go home want my Hinata want Sasuke want roots and branches and soil and belonging and me and Life and complete and tall and whole and love good and right pure finish to hold it proper, Nine to One and One Only and One Many._ _  
_ _  
_The girl with the moon in her eyes stood trembling and sobbing, but alive. Somewhere inside of him, something snapped back into place, and suddenly the fox slid back, back, back and there was Naruto behind those eyes again, sobbing just like her.  
  
The last thing Naruto remembered was Kakashi-sensei catching him as he staggered and swayed, feeling a constant _burning_ beneath every square centimeter of skin and all the way into his bones, and the dull shock of vomiting all over the man’s front in a shower of red and bits of raw flesh right before everything went black.

* * *

  
Meanwhile, Hinata moved towards Naruto almost on autopilot, heart practically in her throat, desperate to see if he was _alright,_ if he was _himself…_ _  
__  
_Tazuna could wait, he’d passed out anyway. Something about the chakra and the writhing, horrid flesh-scape of unnatural flora… it seemed like it was just too much for a civilian’s mind. Enemy men Naruto hadn’t even touched before he’d suddenly stopped fighting and slowly stalked over to stare at her from a few meters away had passed out all the same. _  
__  
_The chakra that’d been pounding through Naruto… looking at it _hurt._ It was as if it _hated_ being beheld. It was as if it was _ashamed_ of itself, as if it were trying to climb right into her pupils and carve out her optic nerves, raw and unrelenting, with the way it still stung even with the Byakugan disengaged.  
  
She clung desperately to Naruto, not minding the close proximity to Kakashi… at least until she had to lurch back in horror, with such force she took Naruto with her… because the splatter of gore vomited onto Kakashi’s front had _moved._ _  
__  
_Roots and branches that spread into impossibly fine infinities sprouted from it, and it twitched, writhed, and gurgled, pulsating steadily as it seemingly tried to slowly tease out the gaps in Kakashi’s clothing. For his part, he looked positively stricken with horror, sending lightning racing through it as he leapt back.  
  
It pulsed, writhed, and _screamed_ like a dying animal, the unholy noise escaping from a scattering of little mouths full of gleaming, horribly asymmetrical and uneven fangs. They made themselves briefly known across the whole of a surface not unlike an oozing, undulating cross between bark and jerky, scrabbling and biting for purchase before succumbing to the lightning at last. After seconds that felt like decades, the blackened remains finally fell to the ground, and Kakashi went about doing his best to incinerate it, still looking at it with a fear Hinata had never known he even possessed before he began violently and erratically dousing himself with a high-pressure water jutsu.  
  
The air smelled like mold, carcasses, the must of damp wood, and an indiscriminate _burning_ all at once. It was heavy like a lead-weighted blanket, seeming to sap a bit of the life from everyone still standing.

It took everything Hinata had not to faint. She figured she’d be _comatose_ after that on top of everything else that’d just happened, if it weren’t for the fact she had to hold up Naruto. He was unconscious, but his eyes were tightly clenched shut and he seemed pained and afraid, shuddering and muttering incoherent things beneath his breath as Hinata tentatively did her best to comfort him, despite the blood covering him.  
  
Despite the… _things_ she had to shakily brush out of his hair; red, vinelike and _oozing_ but sprouting pearly little _fangs_ in place of thorns. She stomped on them when they tried crawling away, and she did her best to fight against the bile rising in her throat when she felt them try to wrap around her toes before she kicked them away and blasted them with a small jolt of lightning. She furiously scrubbed the hand she’d touched it with against her pants, feeling somehow _defiled._  
  
“Sensei… sensei…” Hinata asked, voice small and broken. “...What is this? What happened? I don’t understand… I know about what’s, what’s inside Naruto-kun, but- but why would… why did it happen like _that?_ W-why was Naruto-kun… why did he… why did he _look_ like that? W-why is there, there a _tr-tree_ with _red bark_ and _fruit like, like misshapen hearts_ starting to, to grow o-out of some of the, the, the corpses over there?”  
  
Kakashi’s answer wasn’t even directed at her. It was also almost drowned out by the sound of a babbling, purring, squealing pile of warped, twitching, leafy, mossy _something_ that was steadily soaking up spilled blood and slowly crunching its way through the tibia of a fallen man, sucking and squirming as it slowly crept higher up that leg like a hellish amoeba, its warped roots flailing about aimlessly as it went.  
  
Hinata staunchly refused to look directly at it or fully acknowledge it, whatever _it_ even _was._ .  
  
“Minato…” Kakashi said quietly, to no one in particular, to the point she almost didn’t hear. “Minato, what did you _do…”_ he said, scratching with absentminded discomfort at his arms. “This is _wrong, Minato,_ why- why would you- _how_ could you- do… do you even realize what you-”  
  
“Kakashi-sensei… please tell me… why… why was… why was Naruto-kun… like… like that? W-why was he… their blood… his teeth… too many teeth, too sharp… all the screaming, and the… branches, the roots, the bark, the.. the sucking out their Yin chakra?” Hinata asked, barely coherent as she trembled in place.   
  
Some people were still alive, just barely. Listless and motionless as gnarled red sprouts and writhing bundles of red-orange moss and grass burst from their wounds, still conscious, still breathing, but their eyes glazed over as if they were just a collection of scattered puppetry…  
  
“Minato broke it,” Kakashi said, voice low and haunted. “Damn it all, he… so concerned with whether or not his son could fit the damn thing, could control it… he fucking _broke_ it… its Yin chakra, he must’ve...”  
  
“Kakashi-sensei?”  
  
“What’s the point, Minato? What’s the _fucking point_ in you doing all this if it’s not going to- If Naruto’s- your own _son_ has to-” Kakashi muttered under his breath.  
  
“Kakashi-sensei!” Hinata forced out, louder. It seemed to snap him out of whatever state he was working himself into.  
  
“Yes?” Kakashi forced himself to answer, his sudden calm seeming extraordinarily stiff and fake.  
  
“Will Naruto-kun… live?” Hinata managed to grit out, almost not wanting to say in it fear that acknowledging it would only doom the boy.  
  
“...He should. But… this is… you have to understand, this _isn’t normal,_ Hinata,” Kakashi said quietly. “This was… on some level, it was bound to happen eventually, but… It should never have been like this. Not ever.” he continued, with a deep, shaking, bone-weary sigh.  
  
Hinata just nodded slowly, bursting with questions but simultaneously terrified to ask anything further. At least Naruto would live. That was the main thing she needed to know.

Her Byakugan could tell that Sasuke would live too, as bad as his injuries outwardly seemed, so…  
  
That just left Haku and Zabuza, both staunchly quiet and stiff in the face of the mind-bending carnage witnessed. Hinata didn’t blame them. It was a while before she spoke to either one of them, that stretch of time filled with her wordlessly doing her best to wipe at least a little of the grime off of Naruto and murmur mindless comforts to him while Kakashi went to gingerly tend to Sasuke, Hinata and the rest slowly gravitating closer to the boy as well.  
  
“...You…” Haku started, looking at Hinata carefully. “You stopped me from sacrificing myself... Why?” he asked softly, cocking his head just slightly. “That technique, to clone yourself so you wouldn’t have to leave your client… You wasted a lot of chakra, just to protect your enemy. Why?”  
  
“The alternative... w-wouldn’t be a victory I’d want any part of,” Hinata said quietly. “You… you don’t have much room to talk about being irrational, with-with um, all due respect... Y-you met Naruto-kun and I, before. I bet… I bet you knew we’d, we’d seen through your hunter-nin lie already. You seem too perceptive not to, t-to notice something like that…”   
  
“I suppose you’re right,” Haku replied with a small smile. “I could’ve tried killing you. But I didn’t. I… don’t believe I could… quite explain my reasons in words…”  
  
Kakashi’s eyes widened slightly, and Hinata belatedly realized that no one had bothered to tell him they’d seen Haku again. On one hand, she recognized how stupid that was on their parts, but… Well, maybe if he were more trustworthy, they wouldn’t have that problem.  
  
“You… also went out of your way to spare Sasuke,” Hinata said quietly. “Neither of us really wants to hurt the other. And… somehow… that’s such a relief. I kept coming across cruelty and selfishness on this mission, and, and I started worrying that that’s all the world is… But it doesn’t have to be, does it? Despite everything… there can… there can still be people like you.”  
  
Haku just forced a smile. An idea began to worm its way into Hinata’s head.  
  
“You’re a soft, naive little brat… but you’ve got your own brand of guts, kid,” Zabuza said to her, with just the faintest smile in his tone. “I can’t begrudge that.”  
  
“Well, if you think so… With that being said…” Hinata quieted for a moment, unsure if she wanted to go through with a question that might change everything… but if she’d already gotten that far anyway…   
  
Hinata finished what she wanted to say, as plainly as possible. “Perhaps you two should come to Konoha,” Hinata finished.  
  
Kakashi’s brows shot up to his hairline as both Zabuza and Haku stared like she’d grown a second head.  
  
She stood patient and impassive, quelling the roiling embarrassment in her gut as she clutched Naruto’s unconscious body to her all the more tightly.  
  
“Nice joke, kid,” Zabuza said with a snort.  
  
“No, really. I… I don’t… I don’t like the idea of people like you living like this,” Hinata said quietly. “At other people’s mercy… always having to do things you don’t want to… You can’t really be the terrible person you say you are, Zabuza-san, if you have a subordinate who’s so merciful to others… Or else, you’d have just beaten that out of him as soon as possible. There’s no reason to, to keep a trait like that around… unless on some level… you don’t really mind it,”  
  
“And you think Konoha isn’t just more of the same, kid? More doing what they tell you, more rules, more risking yourself for gods know what?” Zabuza asked with a sneer.  
  
“...You’re right,” Hinata admitted, causing Kakashi to flinch slightly. “But the thing is… at least then, you don’t have to be so alone, so exposed and unsupported…” Hinata continued, although at that point she was starting to question her exact motive.  
  
Was it for them, or was it for _her,_ not wanting to be left alone with her feelings of disillusionment, the horrors of what she’d just witnessed, or the feeling of wanting to be doing anything besides what she felt she had to? Was she just projecting on Haku because she felt she had a kindred spirit in her disdain of violence, in her motivations being chiefly to protect and serve another? Was it just her, desperately reaching out to try and cling to anyone who might possibly understand her feelings?  
  
Zabuza and Haku quietly spoke to one another for a moment, making sure to obfuscate their speech with plenty of coded phrases and also hide their mouths from any possibility of lip reading.  
  
Finally, they turned back to Hinata, and Zabuza spoke. “Y’know what? Fine. We’ll do it.”  
  
“Oh, that’s wonderful! It’s… admittedly, also convenient in the sense that you’ve gathered a lot of sensitive information on Naruto-kun at this point… and by extension, know things that could heavily impact Konoha as a whole...” Hinata said quietly.  
  
“Figured you had some kind of reason like that,” Zabuza said almost boredly, but there was just a hint of amusement there if Hinata really looked. “Funny little lady you are, trying to contain the knowledge peacefully and protect that weird little boyfriend of yours…”  
  
Hinata briefly sputtered and stammered at that in a way that not even Haku could resist stifling a bit of laughter at, but he did at least tell Zabuza not to tease her too much.  
  
Kakashi spoke again as if he were finally catching up with all the odds turns the conversation had taken. “Well, from that perspective, taking you to Konoha is… surprisingly viable…” he admitted, although he sounded like he couldn’t believe he was saying it. “You won’t have to be prisoners, either, as we can truthfully say that you did extend us mercy at a time of vulnerability.”  
  
“But now that I think about it... won’t Konoha still not trust them being right under everyone’s noses?” Hinata asked, quietly and carefully.  
  
“You’re right, they won’t. Even though it’s technically possible for them to become a fully-fledged part of Konoha, I have to admit it won’t be easy. Otherwise, everyone could just go around faking it to spy on other nations. That’s not even mentioning how many of the reasons why people go rogue can potentially make them a danger to _all_ Hidden Villages, not just the one they left,” Kakashi said.  
  
Hinata looked warily to Haku and Zabuza. If there were a reason why they were just… _agreeing_ to a process that would assuredly put them through the wringer and earn them lasting distrust and skepticism throughout the village, there was no way it was just a desire for atonement or a new life.  
  
There was an ulterior motive there, and it was a _big_ one.

Haku just smiled softly yet again as Hinata cautiously looked them over, and she hated how disarming it was. He was so pretty, so seemingly delicate, with such a subtle yet terrible pain hidden in his eyes, it gave him an undeniable air of charisma. It tugged at you, made you feel like you wanted to root for him despite everything.  
  
She couldn’t be pulled in too easily.  
  
“So, what exactly happens to them? I… they don’t have to come, if it turns out to be something that isn’t really worth it,” Hinata said quietly.  
  
“Hm… This is just an educated guess, but with these kinds of circumstances, and us vouching for them… A full Yamanaka interrogation for both of them, and then at least a year under probationary seals. They get a place to live, but can’t leave the village unless it’s somehow become absolutely necessary or there’s been a special exception issued. Their locations will be tracked by the seals, they’ll likely be given a curfew, and the missions they’ll be allowed will be very limited. Essentially, just for community service and trust-building,” Kakashi said. “There will also be tight monitoring of any attempts they make to send messages outside of the village, to discourage any possibility that they’re acting as spies,” he added on.  
  
Hinata made a face. That sounded harsher than she was expecting, not to mention a bit demeaning and invasive. “Well, if that’s the case, then they don’t really need to-”  
  
“We’ll do it,” Zabuza said evenly, as Haku nodded along with him.  
  
Hinata just stared, hardly able to believe it.  
  
“It’s as you say,” Haku began to clarify to her. “The support of a village can be an invaluable thing, depending on the situation. Even with these restrictions, our agreement is likely to benefit us in the long run. We do still have goals to be working towards, after all.”  
  
Hinata just nodded back, seeming reasonably appeased. For the time being.

* * *

As if sensing the touch of harmony and agreement in the midst of all the chaos, the unholy remnants of Naruto’s rampage began to wither and die, steadily disintegrating without the presence of their originator or any more chakra for sustenance. Everyone relaxed almost imperceptibly.  
  
Zabuza just nodded at Haku’s words. That was good. To the point, sufficiently vague, and politely worded.  
  
Zabuza knew full well they had to be careful.  
  
It was a weird ass thing he’d agreed to, he knew that very well… but…  
  
There seemed to be a few possible ways he and Haku could spin it all to their advantage, depending on how things played out.  
  
Option one was managing to slowly win the village over somehow, in the interest of eventually being able to use his knowledge of Kiri to convince Konoha that it was worth it to help him be installed as Mizukage, for the myriad of ways it would hypothetically benefit them to have another village’s Kage be someone they’d enabled and put up to the task. However, such an arrangement would heavily imply that the newly governed Kiri would be somewhat subservient to Konoha, forcibly indebted to them for breaking them free of the tyrannical reign of the Fourth Mizukage. Other nations would also be likely to get pretty damned upset that one of the Five Great Nations would implicitly be in Konoha’s pocket in such an intimate way. So would many of Kiri’s own people, most likely. Mitigating all of that would require a lot of coverups, suppression efforts, and strong-arming, and it wasn’t pretty to think about.  
  
Zabuza had no actual interest in suffering through such undignified downsides, but he’d probably have to hold his nose and act like he was for the sake of his cover. No matter what the plan was, he was going to have to try and play at least kind of nice to get anywhere. Konoha liked to posture as the most noble of the five biggest Hidden Villages, whenever it was convenient to do so, but he knew damn well that posturing was often hypocritical. A truly “noble” village didn’t and wouldn’t produce anyone like Kakashi.  
  
Zabuza could tell just by looking that there was pain in that man only _dysfunction; specifically_ tragedy _caused by_ dysfunction could manifest. 

But there was another plan he was liking more.  
  
He knew what they’d do.  
  
He had an idea of what Konoha would likely want.  
  
Zabuza’s first plan would get to take “center stage” in his and Haku’s minds, or at least it would _seem_ that way. Hopefully, it was a convincing enough distraction for anyone rooting around in their heads. It offered an explanation that was easier to believe than any bullshit about him joining out of the goodness of his heart, and it wasn’t entirely a lie either. The desire to be Mizukage was real, and it was also real enough that he’d begrudgingly accept help from unexpected or originally unwanted places if it absolutely came down to it…  
  
But the second plan would be… _something else._ Something perhaps better than being a “ruler” who would be expected to act grateful and submissive towards an untrustworthy country of fake-noble bastards. _  
__  
_He could see the first little inklings that it might work.  
  
The Byakugan girl had put a clone between Haku and her own sensei to intercept the Chidori, in clear defiance of her sensei’s expectations…  
  
Then there was the way she sometimes looked at her sensei like she barely wanted to be around him… The way she questioned him, the way she came up with such a drastic idea without even waiting to hear his approval… That Byakugan she’d so cleverly hidden away… How closely she appeared to be bonded to the Fourth Hokage’s son, even in the wake of the unnatural atrocities he’d committed in his rage against Gato’s men… She was the type to be cautious, but there were strong shades of defiance and devotion alike, buried as they were in stuttering pleasantries.  
  
Then there was the way the blond brat had power beyond imagining for someone his age, in a way that could only mean one thing…  
  
The way he’d felt a similar kind of power before, the kind of power that further pointed to how the source could only be one thing, especially if the Byakugan girl was treating him and Haku as if they’d become people who _knew too much._  
  
And there was a young Uchiha with them too, and well…  
  
As much as Konoha didn’t want it getting too obvious, it didn’t actually take too long for the rest of the continent to know about their little massacre fiasco.  
  
The second plan he was forming was something more targeted, more _insidious_ than the first, but it had the benefit of being just similar enough that the first would likely be a good cover.  
  
If they could get the Fourth Hokage’s jinchuuriki son, a Hyuuga without a seal, _and_ Konoha’s probable last Uchiha to perhaps… _question their allegiances,_ even just a little… Kids were impressionable, after all.  
  
Maybe, just maybe, if he were patient, he could weaken Konoha _and_ get three new high-potential allies for his idea of a new Kiri, all in one fell swoop. And without having to have the new Kiri owe favors to Konoha just by existing.  
  
Obviously, there was the flaw of how getting away with a plan like that would almost assuredly result in Konoha quickly wising up and marking Kiri as a potential target for _war_ right when he was getting installed as its newest Kage, which would be disastrous…  
  
But if he could say, throw in a bit of a “buffer period”, so to speak… Simply nudge the kids into defecting, then let them go rogue for a while before having them come to Kiri… perhaps even pretending to still be rogue, but with their loyalties actually to him… Perhaps that could work. Who could ever prove it was his idea? Hell, even if they just went rogue without siding with him, that could still be good for him. Konoha would still be weakened and panicked in the wake of such an event. He wasn’t planning to try going to war with them if he ever became Mizukage.... But if someone _else_ tried to take advantage and he got a convenient opportunity to look like a hero, Mizukage or not, he’d gain valuable leverage in the process.  
  
There were still so many things that could go wrong, and the plans still needed a lot of fine turning, but even so, at least there were beneficial elements of the arrangement that were a much safer bet.  
  
For example, there was also the allure of giving Haku a relatively safe place to rest and train for a while, with more resources for said training than they would find elsewhere… not that he was itching to admit just how appealing that was outright, lest he look disgustingly _protective_ or _invested in the kid’s welfare,_ but at least he could spin it into a matter of practicality.   
  
Even if nothing else panned out, at least they’d probably both be stronger after spending some time training with the benefits of a Hidden Village richer and stronger than Kiri backing them, which would once again translate to better odds of eventually tackling Kiri itself. As hideously boring as it sounded to not be trusted to leave a village for an entire year, that also meant an entire year of being able to train with very little risk to either one of them.  
  
Regardless, none of that would matter if his plan to undermine Konoha was discovered, which was why he had an ace in the hole for situations where he and Haku needed to keep information under wraps even in the event of torture or having their minds invaded.  
  
The Hidden Harbor seal.  
  
In a nutshell, it was a seal designed to hold memories away from the actual mindspace, as subtly and securely as possible, but while still allowing the user free access if they so desired.  
  
The catch was that Zabuza only had two, and if they got discovered or didn’t work properly, he and Haku were shit out of luck. Hidden Harbor seals dealt with the mind and soul, an area complicated enough that it inherently made working copies incredibly difficult to create. A single unused copy was worth a small fortune, and he’d only managed to get his hands on them in his previous attempt to overthrow the Mizukage. In turn, Kiri only had them available for him to just barely manage to steal because they’d been ransacked from Uzushio during its invasion, and carefully preserved since then..  
  
Unfortunately, it was estimated that only a small percentage of Uzushio’s fuinjutsu knowledge was successfully obtained, and in the case of the Hidden Harbor seal, that meant that all attempts to replicate it were just people trying to properly redraw the symbols and replicate the internal chakra structure, or reverse engineer it just by closely examining it, because the documented methodology behind it was lost. 

Furthermore, it was impossible to replicate most seals just by copying how they outwardly looked. The weaving and patterning of the chakra within them had to be right too, and that could get incredibly layered and difficult even for a seal that _looked_ simple on the surface. It was even possible to layer multiple unseen seals into what looked like a singular seal that way, drawing them into the very chakra structure, then drawing _more_ seals within _those,_ and so on and so forth, to give it a variety of different effects and extra security features.  
  
When Zabuza thought about it… it was actually _deeply intriguing_ that from the sound of a technique like “Uzumaki Flash Barrage”, there was a high chance that the Fourth’s son was not just that, _and_ apparently a Jinchuuriki, but also a Uzumaki...  
  
The possibilities there were positively _tantalizing._ The boy was an even more valuable asset than he seemed on the surface, given that Zabuza knew of materials that it seemed only Uzumaki blood would safely unlock... _  
__  
_Zabuza shelved that line of thinking for the time being. He was relying too much on conjecture. None of that wishful thinking would mean anything if his plans went awry.  
  
So he had to start slow, or else he’d crash without accomplishing anything at all.

* * *

  
The next few days were more than a bit awkward for Haku. They were suddenly acting semi-casual, if a bit uptight, with the same little group of people they’d originally been tasked with killing…  
  
But as awkward as it was, and as uncertain as the future was…  
  
Haku couldn’t help his relief.  
  
Things were probably most awkward around the Uchiha boy, Sasuke, once he was sufficiently recovered from the brink of death… The first time Haku properly spoke to him outside of the context of battle, Naruto was asleep back at Tazuna’s house, while Haku and Zabuza waited with Kakashi just off the side of a road a short ways away. It was far enough to not alarm Tazuna’s family, but it would give Sasuke some measure of assurance that they wouldn’t be able to try anything without Kakashi intervening, and that they weren’t off scheming behind everyone’s backs. Hinata was the one who brought Sasuke to re-acquaint himself with them. It took both Kakashi and Hinata vouching for Haku for Sasuke to accept that he wasn’t the actual reason why Naruto was still in a deep enough state of unconsciousness that they’d need to head back to Konoha with him like that.  
  
Not that it made Sasuke seem particularly confident in his allegiance, by any means.  
  
“Why the hell are we taking these two back to Konoha?! Aren’t they criminals?” Sasuke asked.  
  
Kakashi gave Hinata a look that made it clear he was putting it on her to respond, since it’d been her idea first. Hinata grimaced slightly at the intensity of her teammate’s eyes, but took a deep breath as she collected her thoughts.  
  
“First, from a practical perspective… Zabuza-san and Haku-san now know two critical pieces of information about Naruto-kun, because the Kyuubi’s power partially surfaced after you passed out, and that was too obvious to be much of anything else... and it... unsettles me to just let them leave with that knowledge. Also, they willingly agreed to this, and Konoha would benefit greatly from both their additional strength and whatever knowledge they’ve gathered on other nations,” Hinata said. Sasuke was still obviously boring holes into her with his gaze, but he at least seemed to be letting her continue. Hinata had a general tone to her voice like she’d been meticulously poring over how exactly she was going to explain herself.  
  
“Second… I admit, this may also be a bit selfish on my part. I felt.horrible about seeing what they have to go through, and I have multiple reasons to believe that much of what they do is only because of things beyond their control. And they aren’t backed by Kiri, which reduces the risk, given that Kiri is under the rule of a tyrant and I’ve been told it’s also a place that hates and fears Kekkei Genkai… That would all strongly suggest that they genuinely are not loyal to it. Beyond that, you do remember that Naruto told you about how we met Haku before and weren’t harmed, right?” Hinata asked softly.  
  
Sasuke just grit his teeth for a moment before responding. “And here I thought you were the more reasonable one, Hinata…” Sasuke griped.  
  
“I do understand your concern, Sasuke-kun. I…” Hinata started, but Sasuke interrupted.  
  
“But,” Sasuke started, continuing after a brief pause. “...even if it might not be reasonable… if part of your motivation is for the sake of a teammate, no matter how much of an annoying asshole that teammate is sometimes… I suppose I can live with that,” Sasuke begrudgingly admitted.  
  
“S-so you’re not mad at me?” Hinata said, voice suddenly smaller and softer as Haku watched her shrink in on herself a bit, fretful and guarded in a way she hadn’t been before.  
  
There was the barest flicker of concern in Sasuke’s eyes, and he inched a hand forward oh-so-briefly before retracting it. “No,” Sasuke replied.  
  
“Thank goodness… Thank you for understanding, Sasuke-kun…” Hinata said quietly, before reaching out to him, arms outstretched… only to retract as if she’d been burnt before even making contact with him, looking rather guilty for a moment. “S-sorry! I’m just… glad you’re okay now, and that you aren’t angry at me…”  
  
“There’s no point. If this were actually up to you, it might be different, but they were under no actual obligation to agree with your suggestion…” Sasuke said. “Whatever reason they have for agreeing with you is their own… so there must be some ulterior motive. It’d be pointless for me to ask about it now, though. There’s nothing compelling them to tell me,” Sasuke continued, latching onto that instead of even bothering to acknowledge that she’d been about to try and hug him.  
  
Sasuke gave Haku a look that unmistakably said ‘watch yourself’, but although Haku was impressed with it in a detached sort of sense, it didn’t truly scare him. As he often did, Haku responded only with an empty smile. Perhaps he’d be more forthright soon… but not too soon.  
  
They went to collect Naruto soon after that… He still hadn’t woken up, and beyond that… it seemed he’d been… somewhat _changed,_ after his outburst.  
  
Most obvious, and most shocking, was that his right hand had developed _claws._ Not just elongated nails, but a set of true claws that wouldn’t be out of place on a wild beast. Those claws were accompanied by the arm developing a thin, sparse fuzz of fine red-orange hairs. Almost imperceptible against his skin, but foreboding nonetheless.  
  
Even worse, the arm had originally been somewhat crooked, because Naruto had apparently _broken it_ without even _realizing_ during the rampage, and then it improperly healed without being set first.  
  
Haku did not envy Kakashi in the least when the man had to go and break it again just to set it straight, but he was shocked that Hinata and Sasuke actually went to watch him do it, apparently feeling obligated to watch for the sake of their peace of mind… Haku would’ve expected the opposite from Hinata at least, but it was an interesting thing to note for later. Despite how dreadful and unpleasant an affair it was, the three did at least get “valuable observations” out of the whole ordeal. When they returned, they noted that Naruto’s arm had healed with miraculous speed, but further mutated in the process, developing scattered thorns and warped, toughened, almost wood-like skin in irregular patches. Kakashi’s working theory, going off of that observation, was that the lasting mutations were a side-effect of cells being rapidly replaced under the influence of the Kyuubi’s chakra.  
  
Beyond that, Naruto’s ears had become just a bit pointed and elongated, and his teeth were sharper too, particularly the canines. Mercifully, though, everything else appeared unchanged, even when Hinata checked internally. That was good. Haku felt like even he’d have trouble retaining composure if Naruto were to look any more like a demonic fox.  
  
They did their best to wrap the afflicted arm in bandages before they all prepared to head off to Konoha.  
  
Before they left, it was decided that the bridge would be called Kaiza Bridge*, after Inari’s late heroic stepfather. That seemed appropriate enough.

* * *

  
As they all began to trip to Konoha, it was… almost cute, the way Hinata insisted on being the one to carry Naruto with her on her back, but also made Haku deeply curious to note that she didn’t seem to want Kakashi doing it at all. He got the vague sense she didn’t trust him before, but… wow. That bad, was it?  
  
There was a certain point where she relented, but not with Kakashi. Strangely enough, it was _Sasuke_ who she allowed to carry Naruto for a certain stretch of the trip back, although he didn’t actually ask to do it.  
  
There’d been a point where they’d taken a break, and he’d seen her sitting down to massage her sore legs… Then, without warning, once they were all getting ready to move again, he hoisted Naruto’s unconscious form up onto his back instead.  
  
It didn’t last forever, mainly because she seemed to get increasingly anxious and fussy about the arrangement as things continued… Haku always noted how she kept framing her concerns to Sasuke as “you’ve only just recovered”, and “you shouldn’t push yourself like this so soon”... but… even though it didn’t seem she was _lying,_ it was clear there was _another,_ more selfish motive to it that she wouldn’t openly admit.  
  
Haku figured he’d have to be blind and deaf to miss the subdued undercurrent of possessiveness to Hinata’s tone, or the way her eyes kept lingering on Naruto instead of where she was going… _Particularly_ obvious was the actual, audible sigh of quiet relief she gave when Sasuke finally relented and let her go back to carrying Naruto a number of miles later, even if Sasuke subtly rolled his eyes in the process of handing him over.  
  
Perhaps most obvious of all was when Naruto finally woke up just a couple of hours before they arrived at the village, and Hinata actually started _weeping_ in sheer relief.  
  
Luckily, with Naruto’s arm bandaged up and nothing reflective around, he didn’t even notice any of the little changes he’d gone through. He didn’t seem particularly alert or energetic in general, and he was still definitely feverish and unfocused, eyes glazed over and breathing shallow. Once Hinata got some water in him and a cool cloth around his head, he was content to fall into a half-sleeping daze with Hinata still carrying him… but at least he could make an active attempt to hang on or shift his weight slightly when necessary, which seemed to help Hinata out quite a bit.  
  
There wasn’t even any response whatsoever to the fact that Haku and Zabuza were there… besides one point when Haku got too close and Naruto _growled_ at him, exactly as an animal would, baring his newly-sharper teeth before almost protectively tightening his grip on Hinata and _whimpering_ to her, gently nuzzling his head against her and seeking _comfort_ with weird little whines _…_ which was all well and good until Naruto apparently felt satisfied enough with her quiet reassurances that he made some kind of happy little string of odd noises and _licked_ her across her cheek, which had Hinata both beet-red and wildly concerned.  
  
“K-Kakashi-sensei!” Hinata cried. “W-what’s wrong with him? Why… why did he lick me?!”  
  
Kakashi just turned to her and gave a long-suffering sigh. “I’m not an expert on seals, but my best guess is that his mind is temporarily a bit... jumbled up… It doesn’t seem to be anything serious, he just…”  
  
“Acts kind of like some kind of weird animal?” Sasuke finished, looking mildly disturbed by the whole fiasco.  
  
“Essentially, yes,” Kakashi replied. “But the seal is made to prevent things like this, and from what I saw the last time I checked Naruto over, it’s not compromised or distorted… so it should sort itself out before long.”  
  
“...Are… are the physical changes going to go away too?” Hinata asked quietly, even though she seemed quite sure that Naruto was too delirious to properly understand her.  
  
“That... I’m not entirely sure of,” Kakashi hesitantly admitted. “But… I’ll do my best to make sure he gets properly sorted out once we’re back in the village, alright?” Kakashi said, with a forced smile.  
  
Neither Sasuke or Hinata seemed terribly convinced.  
  
Haku just traded a silent Look with Zabuza.  
  
What exactly had they gotten themselves into?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of the upsides of my attachment to longer chapters is that some of the biggest and most important shifts so far were able to happen during Chapter 7… in a story revolving around a modified Team 7... ohohohohoho,,, I get to look smarter than I really am for free!
> 
> Anyway, as much as I’d like to be cryptic and let people steadily reason out why I decided to make Kurama so different in this to add to his weird vibe, it’s probably jarring enough that I’ll just go ahead and briefly semi-explain:
> 
> 1: Reflecting more clearly that Kurama’s a fragment of the Shinju.  
> 2: I don’t believe it should just be… okay to split an eldritch creature first into nine different beings and then halve one of the pieces on a fundamental, soul-altering level.  
> 3: Honestly, I thought bijuu just aren’t… abstract or inscrutable enough. They’re also too approachable, too manipulable. I wanted more consequences for exploiting them. A lot more.  
> 4: This will also be tying into new reasons for justifying why Mokuton is so exceptionally rare and special, rather than it being this “just because” plot device power, but more on that later.
> 
> I know the Kurama/Naruto POV is an absolute mess, but anything it says or implies will be reiterated and elaborated on with more actual clarity later, so I’m not gonna permanently lock important bullshit behind confusing bullshit. But yeah, it’s weird, jarring, and frankly kind of terrible on purpose for the time being.
> 
> Also, I’ve seen that Haku and/or Zabuza surviving is kind of a popular concept, but I’ve never actually gotten around to reading other “joining Konoha” fics because I’ve only been strongly “into” Naruto for about six months or so, at the time of writing this. (Yes, the pandemic has a lot to do with this)
> 
> In fact, I intentionally avoided those fics once I started planning this story, because I felt that I would prefer to create motives I came up with by myself for this situation.
> 
> *: It’s Kaiza Bridge and not Naruto Bridge now because with the new direction I took things in, that’s really just not appropriate anymore… It was honestly questionable in canon too, beyond serving to support a feel-good vibe of Naruto getting his first major recognition. He’s not a native, he didn’t kill Gato, and Inari’s just an untrained civilian kid who shouldn’t be encouraged to fight an organized crime ring. 
> 
> If I were to go into headcanon speculation tinfoil hat territory, I could even argue Naruto Bridge plays a role in why Team 7’s canonical relationships seem to regress after Wave. Such high, publicized praise would feed into Naruto’s whole inferiority-superiority complex and give him a greater sense of entitlement, reinforcing his obnoxious behavior towards Sakura and ironically worsening his jealousy and antagonism towards Sasuke, because Naruto would feel emboldened and have more confidence to justify all of his immaturity to himself.
> 
> So, yeah, no more Naruto Bridge and no more consequence-free extra fox chakra boosts for Naruto. Now he’s gonna have to continue to develop and rely almost entirely on his own power, and fox-power is squarely in the realm of an absolute last ditch emergency thing, because I find that infinitely more satisfying than him getting to whip out unearned power from an undeserving prisoner every time he’s mad. (Plus, after his mini-breakdown about resenting his inherent advantages, he’d be more inclined to feel this way regardless.)
> 
> Expect next chapter to be significantly calmer, a sort of "healing"/"resting" chapter after all the fuckshit that happened here.


End file.
